Chronicles of Veselle Tenvanni: The Conjurer
by Cearbhail
Summary: Part of the Chronicles series, staring Veselle Tenvanni. A young 13 year-old descendant of a Telvanni family, she is taken in by Master Neloth when her father is killed during the events of Chronicles of Lydia and Maleek's Journey to Find Ruby. She begins her journey to discover her true abilities as a Telvanni mage and greatest conjurer of her time.
1. Welcome to Tel Mithryn

**Cearbhail**:

___Ok, everyone. I finally did it. I wrote Veselle her own story. It is true that I was planning on including her in a future story called the 'Crimson Blades', staring the Crimson Blades guild and the stuff they have to go through as they become a stronger guild, a stronger family. Veselle was going to be that newcomer that joins the guild as the madness of the Chronicles of Ruby wind down. But here it is, Veselle's journey to become a Telvanni wizard.  
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___Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
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_Dear Book of Shadows,_

_It's hard to imagine just how different my life is now that I'm living in Solstiem. I've been here only a couple days, but it's just now dawning on me just how different life is going to be for now on. My father is gone, and I'm now living in a giant mushroom with a Telvanni master wizard, Neloth Maryon. I thought he'd be nicer, since he seemed like a good friend to my dad back home in Riften. I guess some of his warmness wore off pretty quickly. The minute I accepted to be his apprentice, it was like a candle flickered. He dropped the warm act, telling me that my magicka would not develop as quickly as it could be if he coddled me. He took me on a brief tour of Raven Rock, telling me be about the local populace that I would have to deal with every once in a while when he sent me out for supplies. After that, he led me straight to the giant mushroom that he grew himself. He said I'd have to sleep on the floor until he was able to grow me my own room. He said it would take a month. Until then, I have to share Talvas's room. I haven't met him yet; he's on some assignment involving the 'heart stones' that Master Neloth is obsessed with._

_So, I was given this book of shadows so that I could write about my experiences with learning magicka from Master Neloth. It's supposed to record my soul into it so that one day when other Telvanni mage apprentices want to learn from the great masters, they can just activate some avatar that my book will create. I don't really understand it, but Master Neloth told me he'd show me one such journal later. It belonged to an old friend of his grandma's or something like that. Oh well, I haven't learned anything about magicka yet, other than some basic enchantments for swords, but that was before I ever moved to Solstiem. I should go now. Master Neloth is calling._

_Veselle Tenvanni._

_…_

Master Neloth didn't really know much about privacy. When he called my name, I was still sitting on my little roll out matt, still wearing my pajamas. I had just enough time to close my book before Neloth pushed the door open, staring right at me. "Ah, good, you're awake. Come; make yourself descent and meet me in the main tower. It's time you begin learning about basic Destruction control." He closed the door just as quickly as he opened it, slamming it rather hard. I felt the mushroom room shake from the impact. This thing was alive; I tended to forget that. I was living inside a living fungus. And I wasn't even in my own room. This was Talvas's room. I haven't met him yet, but I heard he was two years older than me. He was fifteen; I was thirteen. I guess Talvas has been learning from Master Neloth for a couple years now. He started at the same age I was now. He was my upperclassman and I had to go to him for any questions I had. If he didn't know, I was allowed to ask Master Neloth. But, until Talvas got back from his assignment, I had no one to turn to except for Master.

The room was pretty simplistic. There was one bed, which I didn't feel comfortable sleeping on. It wasn't my bed, after all. What if Talvas came back in the middle of the night and wanted to collapse in his bed and I just happened to be sleeping in it? I'd imagined he'd get mad at me and that wouldn't make for a great first impression. There was one desk sitting up against the wall, covered in spell tomes and a book of shadows much like my own. I felt tempted to open it up. I mean, Talvas probably wrote in it. It'd give me a chance to know what type of person I'd be studying with. But I resisted the urge and instead grabbed my Telvanni apprentice robes. I slipped the robes on and hurried out the door.

I was hit a sudden blast of falling ash from a fresh explosion from Red Mountain. The wind was heavy and I could see the ash falling from the sky like a light snowfall during the winters of Riften. I looked over to the mountain; I could just barely see it in the distance to the east. The sky above the mountain was glowing faintly red. Seeing how the moons were still up and the stars glowing sharply in the sky, I can't imagine the light being from the sun. Red Mountain must have erupted again. The eruptions were minor and sent more ash and 'heart stones' than actual magma. Vvardenfell was just fine, I guess. We just got hit with all the side-effects of falling ash and those 'heart stones' that Master Neloth continued to talk about.

I rubbed my eyes as I looked around. Ash hoppers dug at the ash, trying to find their breakfast before the other insects woke up. It made me wonder what time it was. Master Neloth didn't seem to sleep very much, if not at all. And so far this is the second night in a row that he's woken me up. Of course, this time I was already awake, but just because I felt the shaking from the explosion up in the main tower. I'm guessing Master needs me to clean something up for him.

I climbed the root ramp leading to the giant flowering mushroom tower that made up Master Neloth's house. When I pushed open the door, I found myself taking one step too far. My leg caught on the levitation spell and I was suddenly pulled off my foot and being lifted upside down as I was lifted up into the interior of the tower. I struggled to keep my robes in place as I screamed in horror. I looked around to keep my bearings but just as fast as I found myself flying up in the air, I felt myself crash onto the spongy floor, landing hard enough to knock the breath out of me. I laid there for a second, trying to catch my breath.

Master Neloth walked over top of me, glancing down at me. "Come now, riding a levitation spell isn't that hard." He reached down and took my hand. "Now, up you go." He lifted me off my back and back onto my feet. He handed me a spell tome, shoving it in my hands. "This is a spell tome. Are you familiar with them? You read them, and they teach you spells. They are magically imbued to send the magic sigils within the text into your mind, allowing you to understand the basic premise of how to use a certain type of spell. Now, normally, I'd throw pieces of garbage like this out my window into the Sea of Ghosts, never to be seen from again. However, I think this might be a good start for you. Read this tome; tell me what you learn when you finish. I'll be by my staff enchanter if you need me; I'll be drinking my dreadful cup of canis root tea. By the by…can you make canis root tea?"

"Umm…" was all I could say before Master Neloth turned to walk away.

"I'll take your conflicted pause as a 'no'." He said as he walked away. "Just read your tome and then come to me when you're ready for the next phase."

I nodded to him and looked down at my spell tome. A giant picture of a flaming palm embroiled into the cover glowed with a light red sheen. The book felt heavy and it looked like it had almost a hundred or so pages inside it. I sighed as I opened it up. I'm all for reading a good book, but as homework? And Master Neloth was probably not going to let me leave this spot until I read the whole thing. I cracked open the book, taking a peak at the magic symbols. The book snapped open and the magic symbols glowed with bright red flames. The pages seemed to flip as quickly as possible. Every symbol on every page seemed to be seared into my memory as the pages flipped by. My eyes flicked over every sigil, every symbol until the book snapped shut at the end of the last page. The book, just flipping through exactly 231 pages of symbols and sigils, crumpled into dust and fell through my hands.

I don't know how long I stood there. My mind had just absorbed an entire text of magicka control and theory about not only the manifestation of fire magicka, but when it was appropriate to summon it and how to make it take a form useable for combat. There were also a few chapters on how to control fire magicka in a way that it didn't burn me or anything I was wearing. Apparently when fire magicka was first designed, no one could control it when the summoned it. It took a price to use it, rather a sacrifice. If someone summoned fire, it usually cost someone's hand or fingers. Heavy blisters, peeling skin, charcoal for limbs. It could get bad before someone actually figured out how to manipulate the fire so that it couldn't hurt someone else.

I think after several minutes my brain started working again. I could tell because Master Neloth was watching me from the other side of the tower's room, sipping his tea loudly as he glared at me. When he finished, he walked over to me, scanning me with his eyes. He stopped by my face, looking at my eyes. "Hmm, interesting. I've never seen an active spell tome before. It was interesting to see how you took to it. No experience with tomes before, only enchantments. Was the process similar to that of breaking down an item and absorbing the knowledge within?"

My head started shaking in response. "Not even close." I found myself saying. "When I used the arcane enchanter, the staff would break down into atoms and dispersed until there was only the enchantment energy left over. Then the energy would be directed into my body. It was a feeling, a knowing of how it felt, of how it was used. It was a natural calling. But…that book, that spell tome. All those pages flipped so quickly but my eyes darted over every symbol, every sigil. And it still remains in my head. And I know…I _know_ how to create fire now. Even if I understand how to do it, I don't think my body has the ability to create it yet. I need to train first."

Master Neloth nodded. "That is good. Can't have you becoming a master just by reading a book. If it were that simple, everyone would be a Telvanni master wizard. It takes years to master your spells. By the way, the spell that just threw you into a mini coma for six hours was _Flames_, one of the easiest Destruction spells ever known."

"_Six hours_?" I asked as I looked up at him. "It's only been a minute!"

His eyebrows arched. "Oh? You didn't know? The sun has already risen and set. It's time for bed now. I knew it would be a day long process, reading a tome. Your brain needed time to sort the information. This is why I hate tomes. Sure, it's instant knowledge, but it's empty knowledge. You understand theory, perhaps even technique, but even you admitted that you lacked experience and training to use what you learned from the tome." He waved me off. "Now, go get something to eat and then call it an early night. I will give you the rest of the night off seeing that you've been through a lot today."

Master Neloth turned away, walking back to his table filled with research material. He didn't say anything else to me, just running through various papers. So…I guess I'm free for the rest of the night. What should I do? As I started looking around, my body felt suddenly exhausted. My legs were screaming at me to sit down. I guess standing still for six hours isn't exactly the best thing to do. I'm surprised that I didn't fall off my feet while I stood still for that long. I looked over at Master Neloth. I hadn't really talked to him since I got here. And since I didn't really have anyone else to talk to except for Varona Nelas, she's the steward; Ulves Romoran, the cook; and Elynea Mothren, the mycologist. Varona is nice but she's usually pretty busy so I don't like bothering her. Same with Elynea. She's always looking for signs of rot in the tower. So, since I didn't really feel like talking to them, I wonder if Master Neloth would talk to me. He is my new Master and I wanted to know as much about him as possible, if not only for the reason of having some sort of familiarity with him.

"Master, I have a question." I started.

"Yes, yes. I am sure that you are adjusting to life here and it's hard on you, and you are still grieving for the loss of your father. I will admit that I do miss him as well, even though I barely knew him. That however does not make me want to discuss random subjects with you, nor comfort you. I would _if_ I was _not_ your master, but it is necessary to remember that there are…certain limits between the relationship between a master and his apprentice. Comforting is one of those conditions unfortunately; it can produce weakness in the apprentice if the apprentice is coddled too much. It can also send a bit of rebellious streak later in development in the mid-teens, about two years from now. Seeing how that's when your true talents will start to blossom, I'd rather not repeat the mistake I made with my ex-wife ten years ago." He turned away from his research to look at me. "Do not worry, Talvas should return shortly. I sent him off to a heart stone deposit to collect some heart stones for me to use on my studies."

"Is there any research I can help you with?" I walked over to the table to see what he was researching.

Master Neloth only sighed and stuck out his hand to keep me from getting too close to the table. "Not to be rude, Apprentice Veselle, but this material is too difficult for a mere apprentice to comprehend. But if it will satisfy your curiosity, I will tell you it has something to do with heart stones and their ability to bring inanimate objects to life; much like the ash spawn that have been popping up recently and attacking my tower. They are born from the ash. I believe it has something to do with the heart stones, since these ash spawn did not exist before the heart stones landed on this island. I am looking into how to control the effects of heart stones so that I can use them to control the ash spawn that attack my tower. If I can command my own army of ash spawn, imagine how powerful the Telvanni name will become again. The army of House Redoran will pale in comparison to what I will be able to create."

He pushed me away from his table and I sighed. "Why did you invite me here to study from you if you aren't going to teach me?"

He looked over at me, glaring at me. "You've been here for a grand total of _two_ days, Veselle. I do believe yesterday was your orientation and adjustment to your new environment. And today you spent the whole day learning how conjure up your first Destruction spell. You may not realize this, but that sort of knowledge drains a lot out of your mental power. You need to rest, so this will become an order, whereas last time it was a mere suggestion. Return to bed, get some sleep, and I will wake you for when it's time to continue." He turned to glare at me. "Do not forget I know what's best for you to know, what's best for you to ignore, and what's best to learn on your own. And my research is something you should ignore for now. It would only hurt your tiny head trying to contemplate the meaning behind it."

I had no idea if that was some sort of insult or his way of keeping me out of his business. But, I guess I should just take it for what it was. He didn't want me delving into his personal research. He was a master wizard. Whatever he was looking into was in the realm of master wizardry. I was just beginning to comprehend what a Flame spell was. Whatever he was working on had to be experimental, not figured out like what I had ingrained into my head. I nodded and started turning around. "Ok, Master. I guess I'll just go to bed then."

"Wait." He called as I started to leave. When I turned around, he grabbed onto my arm, spinning me to face him. "I just realized something. You told me that you had made a contract with a Vermeister, and it showed up in Tamriel to protect you when you were dying. I have been doing research into that as well, and I have concluded one fact."

I waited for him to continue but he was suddenly silent. "Umm…Master? What is it?"

"The only way a being like a Daedra or an Aedra can materialize in the mortal realm is if the caster offers up energy to supplement for the being's composed body, usually transformed within the temporal rift opened between dimensions, also known as portals. The Vermeister that appeared in Riften and assisted you could only take physical form if you had the magicka reserves powerful enough to assist the creature in forming. And Akatosh's Vermeister is one of the most powerful Aedra around. Do you know how much magicka it would take to summon such a creature?" When I shook my head, he only sighed in contempt. "It would take normally three fully-versed Telvanni mages to push out that much energy to allow that thing to come through the portal, and even then it wouldn't be bound or complete, but a mere shadow of the real thing. That being said, while you have no experience with magicka, no natural ability other than your Telvanni blood, it would seem that your magicka capability is well above that of a normal apprentice. As I mentioned in Raven Rock when I first met you. The gods seem to think you are powerful; and for that reason I should fear you. Not for what you might do to me, but for what you might do to yourself and others. For this reason, before you go to bed, I want you to shoot as much fire magicka as you can into the sky until you can't summon it anymore. I dare not say how long it will take. That would be like asking how long it would take for the ocean to drain through a small hole in the bottom of the planet. No one could possibly predict such an event." He nodded to me. "Good luck. Hope you finish before the sun rises, for that is when we continue."

I couldn't believe he was telling me to stand outside and shoot fire into the sky. "What if I catch your giant mushroom on fire?"

He gave me a leveled look; bending down to see me eye-to-eye. "You mess up my house, and I will show you what a real Telvanni mage can really do when he feels threatened." He regained his posture, my head coming only up to his chest. He snapped around, the backs of his robe flapping with the effort. He strolled back up to his table. "Well, you better get going. The sooner you extinguish your magic, the sooner you sleep. I suggest you hurry. Sun sets in one hour."

I hurried as I turned to the giant hole. From what I remember yesterday, Master Neloth designed a levitation spell that operated in both fashions. I just had to want to go down. So, I approached the giant hole, putting my feet within the blue glowing circle. I focused my intention on going down and I was suddenly pulled off my feet into a silent gravity-less field. I swayed and struggled to stay right-side up as I was lifted off my feet and drifting over to the giant hole without any ability to control it. My hands and feet started stinging, my stomach turning, my heart racing, and my head spinning with adrenaline as I found myself hovering over a giant 30 foot drop straight down. I still remember landing on my back from a one foot drop coming up. I didn't want to fall 30 feet next.

My little field of no gravity started pulling me down and I slowly, but still pretty quickly, descended to the floor. It was a lot calmer than I thought it would be, and it did wonders for my heart to know that it wasn't a really fast descent. As I got towards the floor, I was forced to hover for a few seconds before gravity returned and I fell the rest of maybe 6 inches before I landed. I wasn't really ready for it so I stumbled and fell to my knees, throwing my hands out to catch me as I did so.

I was glad to feel the soft spongy mushroom floor under my feet and hands. I released a breath I didn't know I was building up, and all my tension faded away with it. When I did that, I was surprised that the floor underneath me erupted into open flames. Seeing the floor erupt into flames like that made me scream in surprise. Thinking fast, I wanted nothing more than to escape the flames before they burnt me. The levitation circle read my intention and flung me up the hole as quickly as it could. It ignored the gentle ascent but instead shot me straight up as quickly as it could. Next thing I knew I was forced into a sudden halt as I reached the end of the spell's reach. It threw me to the side and I flew through the air before crashing into the wall where Master Neloth had stacked some old books. The books collapsed on top of me, and I covered my head to protect myself as I was buried underneath the books. Some of the books were old historical texts and had thousands of pages inside them. They weighted close to 10 pounds. That's pretty heavy when there are about 30 of them falling on top of you all at once.

"What did you do?" Master Neloth practically screamed as he charged over to me. Then he started sniffing the air and walked over to his tunnel. He looked straight down, nodding. "Ok, now I understand." He warmed up a spell and launched it straight down. I watched as a cold bitter wind blasted from his hand and disappeared down the tunnel. I waited under the stack of books as Master Neloth dealt with the currently burning tower. It only lasted a few seconds, and then he turned to face me. "Do you now see just how dangerous you can be? This is not a game you're playing, Apprentice Veselle. You're working with volatile magic and it will destroy you and all that you love if you do not first master it. And the only way to master your magic is to master yourself first. And we cannot begin that process until you have no magicka in your system to conflict with." He reached down, took my arm, and hauled me out of the caved in pile of books. "This time I will supervise you. If this happens again, you will be punished."

He began pulling me by my arm. He forced me close to him so that we both fit inside the circle and then we were both pulled off our feet by the spell. We drifted down the tunnel and I could see just how fast the fire magicka had spread up the tower's interior. I had to be more careful. Just imagine what would happen if I accidentally exploded with fire magicka when I slept. I might end up killing myself in my sleep just because the entire room would burn to the ground, with me inside it no less. When we reached the bottom of the tunnel, Master Neloth quickly pulled me outside, gently tossing me to the middle of the field just far away from his house that I think it was safe to practice magic. He brought out a small wand embedded with a small pointy clear crystal. He started by drawing a circle in the ash. Then he drew another circle on the outside of that circle, and then another one. In the first circle he started drawing some sigils and runes that I didn't understand. He repeated the process for all three circles, all sigils ending inside the circle that it was written for.

Master Neloth walked into the center of the circles. "I call upon the powers of the suns, moons, and stars." He said as he stretched out his hands. The sigils and lines drew into the ash on the ground started glowing with red, yellow, and blue lights of power. "Create a training space for my apprentice so that even if she wields forces strong enough to crumble mountains to dust, evaporate oceans into boiling steam, or even split nirn in halves, that she will not affect anything outside the first circle: the Circle of Confinement. Keep all effects of weather out of the second circle, so that my apprentice can train in typhoons, ash storms, and all forms of ill weather without dampening her spirits or ruin her concentration with the Circle of Enclosure. And finally, ward away all forms of malicious intent, from wild animals, to conniving Daedra. Keep them out of the circles with the final circle, the Circle of Protection. Oh mighty Lords: Azurah, Meridia, please offer your protection of my student while she learns her craft."

And just like that, the circles of light enclosed around the rings and sigils, burning into the ground, the vey ash turning into what looked like a flat surface. When the light faded away, I could still see the circles and sigils like they were ink carefully drawn into the ash where it sat. Master Neloth walked outside the circles, waving me to join him. "Now, come. It's time for you to train." I walked into the circle. As I passed the first one, I felt a push on me, but as I stepped past it all resistance vanished. It felt like some of my energy left me as I crossed the line. As I passed the second line, the wind and the heat of the setting sun, as well as the cold coming in for the night, vanished as well. And then, when I crossed into the third circle, I felt a welcoming feeling of freedom to explode if I wanted to. I just knew that I could unleash everything I had and this circle could handle it.

Neloth nodded to me. "You can feel the effects already, can you not? Do I even have to tell you which circles are which?"

I shook my head. "No, Master. I understand just fine." And I did. I could feel each circle as I stepped over it. "So, is this where you step out of the first circle and watch me from the second one?"

He smirked and started backing over the line. "Oh, firecracker, huh? Good, Talvas didn't have your…I'll call it spirit for a lack of a better term, or maybe is it a backbone? Oh well, he has one now, because I didn't coddle him every step of the way." He crossed his arms as he crossed into the second circle. "Now, girl. I will instruct you on how to do this quickly and effectively. Ever hear of a temper tantrum? Where you unleash all your emotional baggage all at once? That's what I want you to do. You've had a hard month, Veselle. Now…just let it out. Cry, scream; throw all you have at the world. You'll be amazed at how well this method works. And when you're exhausted, all your magicka will be spent and you'll sleep for hours. You wanted me to listen to your little whines and connect to you on some sort of emotional level. This is the closest as you're ever going to get. Just let it all out."

I stood there for a couple seconds, looking from him to the ash where I stood. He wanted me to cry and complain? That wasn't me! I didn't do stuff like that. It would be embarrassing to do that in front of Master Neloth. So, I kicked my foot in the ash, looking for any way to get myself started without drawing too much embarrassment on myself. Master Neloth started groaning and moaning as he stood there waiting for me. His quiet complaints and groans only grew louder until he was pacing around his circle, glaring daggers at me. He crossed his arms and glared at me, smirking at me with his judging face, practically telling me that I was wasting his time, and the sad part was that I was wasting his time. It was not just my own resting time I was using up, I was using the time he had to research what he really wanted to do. When he invited me down here to train, he had to give up his personal time to teach me, and here I was, standing in a circle of ash as the sun began setting, my precious master standing there, watching me as I wasted all the time he had put in for me to get me as far as I have gone already.

Just standing there, watching him watch me made me angry. "Just say it!" I screamed to him. "I'm just a waste of your time!" As I said it, a bright fire roared all around me, encircling me with a small two foot wall of flames all around me.

He smirked. "Can't say I don't agree with you. You are pretty adept at wasting valuable time I have. I could be learning how to get rid of the ash spawn problem affecting not only my home, but Raven Rock as well. Pandering to your schedule and petty girlish needs are not on my top priority list, but you force your needs onto me like I'm your father. Well, I'm _not_ your father, little girl. I'm your master, and I will not belittle myself to such an insolent whelp like you."

Just hearing him mention my father made my heart cry out in pain. The fire exploded all around me. I watched as it roared like a wave, crashing onto the invisible wall, which was suddenly encased by a white glowing shield spell. "Is it so bad to want to be loved? Is it so bad that I want you to take care of me like a parent would?" I screamed to him. "I just lost my dad; I just lost everything I knew, everyone I loved! I left the only home I knew and moved here to this new land with new experiences to be had. I'm a little shaken up from having to transition to this new life! I could use some sort of support, someone to hold me, someone to tell me that it will be ok! And all you've done is glare at me and shove me in the corner of your tower while you read your books! It pisses me off, having you, my new father-figure, push me to the side like an annoying pet!"

"Yes!" Master Neloth hissed from the other side of the growing flames. "I can see the anger pouring from you. Your feelings are true. Tell me more; tell me how much you hate me. Make me regret having you as my student."

"I don't regret coming here, but hate your lack of privacy. I could have been naked this morning when you barged into the room." I didn't really expect it, but the flames poured even higher, roaring over 20 feet above me, all crashing against the invisible wall of magicka. Tears started flowing from my eyes and I fell to my knees as I started shaking. "I miss my father! I hate that Mehrunes Maven took him away from me! I don't hate coming here, but I hate that I lost him forever! And I thought you'd make me feel better; make me feel welcome to be here. And you haven't done anything of the sort. You shoved me in a small hut where your other apprentice sleeps. What if he just runs into the room while I changing? That would be so embarrassing! I'm sick of drinking canis root tea, I'm sick of eating ash yams, I miss my honey, I miss my bread I made into sandwiches, and I miss my old room!"

The flames all around me started dying down and I found myself breathless. I was already down on my knees, but now it felt different. I felt relieved, empty inside but relieved. Tears were still rolling down my cheeks. I could still see my father's smile as he lied in his coffin, his body horribly mangled from the falling ceiling. He barely looked like the man he was when he went to prison. But the smile on his face looked the same. Of everything wrong with his body, his smile remained the same. And I couldn't stop the tears from rolling down as the fires died down all around me. The fires got low enough to where I could see Master Neloth's glare. His stance and his glare didn't change as the fires all died away. When they finally got low enough, he waded into the circle, blowing the remaining fire away with some frost spell he had barely warmed up.

He stopped a couple inches away from me and bent down to look me eye-to-eye. He nodded once. "Good job. I'm impressed with how easily you took to expressing your true emotions. It took Talvas three nights to release himself like that. You've earned a good night's sleep. I'm sorry to say that you burnt your robes while you exploded. I'll begin enchanting your next set of training robes to withstand the intense fire that your body produces. Once we get into frost and lightning, I will add additional enchantments to protect your clothes from melting or freezing." He patted me on the shoulder and turned to leave. "Do no worry; I will block the memory of your naked body so that you will be spared embarrassment tomorrow morning when you see me."

I looked down to see that my robes were completely gone. He was right. I must have burned them off while I lost control of my fire magicka. I felt so embarrassed that a sudden explosion of fire magicka roared out of me, almost consuming the entire circle for 30 feet or higher. It was a sudden explosion and ended just as quickly. As it finished, I could hear Master Neloth snicker as he walked away. "I will also create an amulet that will prohibit your emotions from causing sudden bursts of magicka. I almost forgot about that."

When Master Neloth was back inside his tower, I looked around for a second for anyone nearby watching me. I didn't see anyone, so I ran out of the circle and to Talvas's room as quickly as I could. I pulled the door open and threw myself inside, closing the door as quickly as I could. I buried my face in my hands and resisted as much as I could from exploding with more fire magicka. I walked over to my little roll out mat and grabbed my blanket. I wrapped it around me like a toga, securing it with a rope I found on Talvas's desk. It may not be the best outfit I've ever worn, but it would do for now. I silently sobbed in my hands while trying to control my emotions as much as I could. I laid my head down on my mat and closed my eyes.

"Umm…" I heard someone call from the doorway. I could barely open my eyes, but I could see a tall-ish Dunmer teenager standing in the doorway. He had long hair for a guy, brushed back in a regal style I had heard about in Raven Rock. "Hi." He said, looking down at me. He pointed down at me, and then gestured to his room. "This is…well…how can I say this without coming out as rude?" He mumbled to himself. "Why is there a naked girl sleeping on the floor of my room?"

I looked down, hoping that I was still wearing my blanket. I was. It was still perfectly wrapped around my body. I sighed my relief as I sat up. "First off; I'm dressed." I said to him as I stood up. I stuck out my hand for a handshake. "Second off; I'm Master Neloth's new apprentice. And until he gets my room built off the ground, I'm…well…I'm stuck as your roommate." I tried to smile as nicely as I could. All it got me was Talvas grabbing my arm and throwing me out of his room. When I turned to object, he threw my mat and pillow in my face hard enough to knock me off my feet. I fell down the staircase, landing in the soft ash right as Talvas slammed his door shut. He opened his door to look at me. "I'm sure you'll understand if I don't want to wake up at 0400 when Master Neloth comes to collect you in two hours. Go sleep in your little circle of protection." He slammed his door behind him, leaving me out in the cold dark night. I kicked the dirt as I looked around. What was I going to do now? I couldn't sleep outside!

I trudged myself into the main tower, carrying my rolled up sleeping mat with me, my pillow in my other arm. I nudged the main door open with my shoulders, ramming myself inside the tower. I levitated myself up the tunnel, landing awkwardly on the landing circle. I looked over at Master Neloth, who was too busy reading his books to even notice me. I found myself a small corner, unrolled my mat, and fluffed up my pillow. I lied my head down and closed my eyes. Oh well, ground is ground. Might as well sleep here.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_And imagine, this is only chapter one, and I already have such a strong start. I realize this is really the second chapter, since her introduction was back in Maleek's Journey to find Ruby. But the remainder of her story will play out here as she grows into a capable mage. hope you enjoy the story.  
_


	2. Magicka-weaving

**Cearbhail**:

___Second chapter is up. We have a cameo from someone from one of my oldest stories. You'll know it when you see it. Anyway, it's a history laden chapter with some humor on Neloth's ability to be so focused on his work and his inner thought process that he literally forgets what he's currently talking about and what he's about to do, and then goes in a loop of remembering what he wants to do and getting side-tracked again.  
_

___Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
_

* * *

[Veselle Tenvanni]

_Dear book of shadows,_

_Last night was ok, I guess. The sound of Master Neloth flipping through pages of his research papers and hearing him sip tea was actually more relaxing than sleeping in some boy's room. When I woke up, I could still hear him flipping through various papers. He hadn't even left his spot since I lied, down. At least I don't think he did. I don't know how long I can do this though; sleeping on the floor like this. It wouldn't be any different in Talvas's room though. I'd still be on the floor, and he probably snores. Well, anyway, Master Neloth tried to get me out of my mat up by nudging me with his foot, telling me to get up. He told me to write my daily journal entry, something about my thoughts and then something I learned the previous day. I don't know what he'll teach me today, but I guess he has something planned. Oh well, I don't really know what to expect right now._

_Ok, so the spell I was working on yesterday is still fresh in my mind. The tome of flames was special, I think. I don't know who wrote it, but when they designed the spell tome, it crumbled to dust after I read it. Not that it mattered; the spell was inside my head now. I can manifest fire magicka now. However, I don't have much control over it. Last night I burned through my training robes. It will take a while until I can control that sort of magic. Today I was hoping to spend some time looking at the training circles Master set up for me to train in. If I can learn how to inscribe at least the Circle of Protection, I think that will be an important thing for the future, you know, in case I run into a Mehrunes Maven again. Oh, Master Neloth is calling me. I should go now._

_Veselle Tenvanni._

_…_

I closed my book and looked up at Master Neloth. He nudged me to stand up. I readjusted my invented blanket toga and stood up from my mat. My body's muscles seemed a little sore and I fell to my knees. My breath was quick to hurt my chest and I felt really weak. What was going on with me? I forced myself to stand up and as I walked up to Master Neloth, I found my body both sluggish and twitchy as I moved. He noticed me wobbling on my feet and turned to face me. "Fear not, this is a natural occurrence to untrained apprentices. It's called 'burnout'; it is a natural reaction from your body when you run through your entire reserve of magicka. It's a good thing. It will increase your ethereal muscles, improving your ability to hold and control your magicka better, finer tuning your spell-crafting. The pain should pass after a few weeks of intense training. Until then, prepare to feel worse and worse as the week progresses. We shall take it easy today, however, we must not be too easy on you or your finer control of magicka will waiver and you'll only stagnate to the level of a _human_ mage." He spat the word human at me.

I nodded to him, rubbing my sore arms. I think it helped the feeling of pain a little. "Ok, Master. As long as it's normal."

He looked down at my blanket toga and shook his head. "What are you wearing? Where are your training robes?" He said to me in a scornful manner.

I stood there for a few seconds, hoping I wouldn't have to say it. When he crossed his arms and started tapping is foot on the floor, I sighed as I shrugged. "I burnt through them last night. You said that you'd replace them and enchant them so that I wouldn't burn through them again. Also do the same with frost and lightning."

He said, "Hmmm.", rubbing his chin as he did so. "Funny…I don't recall that happening or saying that I'd do anything of the sort." He looked down at me. "Did I say that I was going to wipe my memory by any chance?"

I nodded. "Yes. Because you saw me naked."

He nodded. "Sounds like something I'd do. If that were the case…" He spun away from me and charged over to his arcane enchanter. He expressed his joy by saying, "Just as I thought." He grabbed the robes resting on top of the arcane enchanter. He paused, saying, "Wait a second, what is this?" He grabbed a silver necklace with some black and red stone embedded in it that was sitting next to the robes. "It seems to be enchanted to block emotional interference with spell control. Interesting. New fire-protection robes and an amulet designed to block emotions from unleashing outbursts of magicka." He turned to face me. "I think I understand what happened last night. Am I to guess that last night I introduced you to emotional draining? That would explain your lack of magicka, your sore muscles, your new clothes, and this amulet."

I nodded to him. "You drew me three circles to protect me while I casted my flames spell. You don't remember that either?"

He shrugged. "I remember bits and pieces, but the entire event seems to be erased from my memory." He shook it off, waving his own hand to dismiss it. "If I push the memory, it might return." He threw the robes and necklace at me. "Hurry and get dressed. Today's lesson is vital to…well…something I'm sure." He walked off to continue studying from his research.

I walked off to a smaller room where no one could see me and I replaced my blanket with my new robes. Once I slipped them on, I could feel the immediate protection against fire. I looked down, noticing I wasn't handed any boots. Oh great, I guess I would have to go through boots like I did my robes last night. When I walked out of the room, I looked at Master Neloth. "Master…you didn't give me any boots!"

He snapped his head around, glaring at me. Then he looked at my feet, nodding. "I guess I didn't." He walked from his table over to his arcane enchanter. He looked around it, shrugging. "Must have slipped my mind last night. Fear not, I have plenty in storage. I'll just grab a pair and enchant them with the same effect that I did your robes." He stopped, and then looked at me. "Wait a second. I did that on purpose. The robes, it makes sense. They're not enchanted with a soul gem…ah, I see." He walked up to me. When he got close enough, he bent down, grabbing my sleeve of my robes. "Ah, yes. I was right. But to hold this together there would have to be a…" He reached for my chest, grabbing something near my neck. He started running his hand across the seam of my collar. "Ah, yes. A complete series of heart stones have been placed around the collar of the robe. And they worked. Interesting. Did I take notes on this before I wiped my mind?" He stepped away from me returning to his table.

I was so confused that I just stood there. I looked down at my deep red robes, grabbing onto the sleeves and then messing around my neck area for whatever was there. I noticed a small black and red rock attached to the robe's collar as some sort of round decoration. I looked at the necklace. The round stone embedded inside the silver pendant was the same round stone as the ones around my neck. It must be a heart stone. I slipped the necklace back over my neck. I raced up to Master Neloth to see him flipping from page to page, trying to figure something out. "Master? What is it?"

"Yes, yes, I was right!" He was muttering to himself. "I figured it out." He looked down at me, cracking a smile that I hadn't seen yet. "You burning your robes gave me a valuable reason to attempt long lost magicka only practiced by my mother's side of the family." He nudged me forward to his table. Hundreds of papers littered the whole table. How he managed to stay organized was beyond me. And these notes were so complex that I couldn't make heads or tails of what I was reading. He gestured to a piece of paper with a drawn representation of a heart stone with descriptions of what the heart stones were made of and how they affected the temporal rifts and magicka containing properties. It sounded like something important. "This right here were the notes I took on heart stones and how their properties were similar to the properties of soul gems. They can hold and displace energy equal to that of petty soul gems. However, they cannot consume souls, just energy…plain elemental energy. For this reason, it would seem that they can be used to collect elemental energy and hold a charge similar to a soul gem, while also being used to create…yes…" He hissed as he looked at a different note. "We're taking a field trip today. Grab your boots." He said, looking down at my feet.

"Um…Master…" I pleaded with him as I pointed down to my feet. "I don't have any yet."

He smacked his head. "Oh, of course. I got side-tracked with my research again." He walked into the storage room, grabbed a set of boots, and walked back out to us. "These will do for now." He tossed them to me.

"What if I burn through them?" I asked him.

"You burn through your clothes?" He asked me like he had already forgotten.

"Yes!" I almost screamed to him. "That's why you had to replace my robes!"

"In that case, I can see why you'd be worried about roaming Solstiem with unenchanted boots." He rubbed his chin in thought. "I guess before we can go that I will need to enchant them. Oh wait…" He said again he smacked his head. "that's right. That was today's lesson." He grabbed me and dragged me over to another table, one that had a small collection of heart stones. "You can thank Talvas for bringing me these heart stones last night. He gathered a whole box of these heart stones. Without these, I doubt I would have developed a new method for enchanting your robes using ancient methods combined with the lasting effects of the newer methods. These heart stones are just…a perfect blend of the old and the new." He said to me.

"Wait…" I said, raising my hand to stop him before he went off on a rant and forgot what we were doing again. "This is a new method for you? Are you sure the enchantments even work?"

He glared down at me like I was an idiot. "Are you an idiot? You're talking to a master wizard. Of course I tested your robes after I enchanted them. I made sure the heart stone's enchantment affected every fiber connected to them. I, in short, tried to destroy your robes with every bit of my fire mastery. Even the heart stones were unbreakable. Simply amazing when you think of it. Soul gems may shatter, but not heart stones. And when a soul is extracted the soul gem crumbles. When energy is extracted from the heart stone, it does not crumble like the soul gem. It remains intact. I'm beginning to wonder what the downside to the heart stone really is. My research remains inconclusive on such a question. Which is why I'm glad you're assisting me with my research, as did my late wife."

"Your…what?" I asked.

He looked down at me. "My apprentice before Talvas. She trained here with me. And we got pretty intimate. We were both younger at the time, and driven by such impulses. She is the mother of my daughter Brelyna. She assisted me in my research and when I asked if I could implant a heart stone into her body to replace her heart, she was overjoyed to assist me in manifesting a new way to connect us to potential energy. My experiment failed, unfortunately and my wife died, but not before losing her sanity. She stormed off and I didn't see her for a couple weeks until she returned half-crazed and paranoid of everything around her. I tried to remove the heart stone, but without a living heart to give her, there was nothing I could do. She passed away from ash poisoning. It was my fault, and I've been trying to find out what I did wrong. I won't be attempting that experiment again until I have an answer for what I did wrong. There aren't enough Telvanni mages left to risk it."

He waved it off and started picking up a few heart stones. "And…I'm helping you how?"

He gestured to the heart stones in his hand. "Your robes are enchanted with energy held by the heart stones. I will be able to see exactly how your body takes to having that energy lingering around your body. Will you go crazy like my deceased apprentice, or will you remain unaffected? And if you are driven crazy, will taking the stones away from your aura take away the negative effects? If the effects do fade, how quickly will they return? Will there be withdrawal symptoms to contend with? It's these things that we need to know about heart stones before using them in mass quantity. And I cannot test on myself. If the stones mess with my mind how will I be able to fix it? It's easier if a less experience apprentice handle such new and untested magic. Easy to break the pattern of new magical holds since your magicka is still young and malleable." Jeez, how many big words that I didn't understand did my Master know?

"I'm not sure if I'm your apprentice or test subject." I said to him as I crossed my arms.

He harrumphed at the comment and grabbed my hands. He slapped a couple heart stones in my hand. "Any good apprentice participates in experiments. It is the only way the apprentice learns how to think critically and analytically when testing out new spells. The art and science of spell-casting is ever changing. Just keeping the old and tested is dangerous and boring. If we are to keep up with the evolving planet, we need to evolve our methods of magic as well. That is why magicka-weaving was replaced with soul gems. And now, I have taken both of them to enchant heart stones." He looked at me, nodding. "Right, that is enough explanation for one day, I feel. Give you too much of it and you'll forget everything I've said." He grabbed my arm and dragged me over to the table he drinks his tea from every day. "Here's what I want from you today." He gestured to the stones in my hand. "I want to enchant your boots with fire protection using these stones; however, I feel that you are ready to fill these stones with the energy necessary to provide the base enchantment. So, here's your task today. Enchant these heart stones. Nothing more, nothing less. Then we can go on our field trip."

I nodded and looked down at the stones. "Um…so…how?"

He nodded at me to follow him. He dragged me to the giant collection of journals and books that I crashed into last night. He reached down and grabbed one of the more slender books, only 600 pages or so. He handed it to me, saying, "This is a book of shadows. And not just any book of shadows, but my grandmother's. She was the one in our family that rediscovered the art of magicka-weaving. Ever since, we've been relearning the forgotten method from her."

I looked down at the journal. "…Ok…So, what do I do with it?"

"Well, open it, of course." He walked away from me over to his tea kettle as it started whistling. "Varona! My water is ready for the vile you call tea. Varona? Varona!" He called down the tunnel to the exit. "Blast it all, where is that woman?" He practically growled as he turned to look at the whistling tea kettle. "I have to do everything around here." He started pouring the hot water into a cup, taking a second to look at me. "Well, don't just sit there and gawk at me. Open the blasted book already! Apprentices these days need their hands held for everything." He muttered to himself and he dipped a canis root into the tea.

I turned my attention back to the book. I glanced at the cover, seeing the engraved sigil of the name Davilia Modryn. When I popped open the book, I didn't see anything that glowed with sigils and the pages didn't start flipping their pages like with the flames tome. So, I opened up and flipped through the pages. "Um…ok. So, what am I looking for?" I looked at Master Neloth, but he didn't move or say anything. He just sat in his seat, looking down at his cup of tea. I called out to him again, but he didn't move from his spot or acknowledge me in any way. I was starting to get really tired of being ignored by him.

When I opened my mouth to call out to him again, I heard someone laughing from behind me. I turned to look who it was. It didn't sound like Varona. Standing there was a woman dressed in Telvanni robes. She looked semi-transparent, like she wasn't really there. When she looked at me, she nodded a welcome and gestured over to Neloth. "Don't mind my grandson; he's just not stuck in a time-lapse like you are."

"What?" I asked her. "Wait…you're his grandmother?"

She nodded. "Yes, I am Davilia Ocato. Well, I was Davilia Modryn when I began my book of shadows. And technically, I am a shade of the real Davilia. I am a collection of her thoughts, personality, hopes, dreams, and heart. In a sense, I am a piece of the real Davilia's soul. If you are reading my book of shadows then…you must have a question that you need answered. My pages are welcome for you to browse through if you ever need guidance or just curious about whom I was. But…if you really want help, you can just call on me. I will answer your call and then we'll go into a time-lapse, much like his one." She gestured to the slightly blue room. "When we talk, time will be frozen. So, you called me out for a reason. What is it?" She caught me by surprise so badly that I was still frozen where I stood. She waved her hand in front of me. She finally shrugged and said, "I think I may have frozen her too. She is the one holding my book, right?" She looked at the book in my hands.

I found myself moving backwards as she leaned down to look at the book. "Yeah, I'm still here. I'm just surprised is all. Um…Master Neloth wanted me to learn the old way of storing energy. He called it magicka-weaving."

She nodded. "Ah, of course he would make you talk to me then. I guess I have no chance but to teach you then." She walked over to me, placing her hand on my head. "Relive my past, where I first learned it and see if you can learn it for yourself." Her voice reverberated inside me. I saw a white light overtake me and it felt like I was pulled out of my body.

…

[Davilia Modryn]

It was the first day of my Enchanting for Beginners class. The other kids around me were still talking to each other in wonder over J'skar spending half the Destruction class time invisible, as if they weren't able to perceive that he was there. I noticed him from the very start, but I thought it was part of the lesson, so I didn't say anything. And now, I'm sitting in a table surrounded by a Khajiit boy that kept looking at me, and an Altmer that kept trying to get a smile out of me. I was getting annoyed with both of them. I was burying my face in a book for a reason.

"I'm Erandur." The Altmer said, trying to look around my book. "What's your name?"

"Please leave me alone." I said to him, pulling my book closer to me. "I just want to learn about enchanting; I don't want any friends." Boy, that was a lie. I wanted to have some friends but I just didn't know how to be social to others, especially boys. Every time I tried to talk to a boy, I stutter over my words and it made me blush. I hated being so shy, but there was nothing I could do about it.

"How many of you are in the Battlemage Pre-Training Program?" A person who I believed to be our instructor asked as she walked into the room. She looked older and more experienced. I could feel the magicka aura thick around her body, like a protective shield. She had to be a battlemage. Since she asked who were pre-battlemages, I raised my hand. I saw Erandur and the Khajiit raise both of their hands with me at the same time. My stomach turned over. Oh no…these two were battlemages too. My arm started to lower down, but I held it halfway up while sliding down into my chair. I just wanted to disappear and hope these two didn't notice me any further.

The instructor started telling us about some after class evening training program she was going to start. I also learned that the Khajiit sitting next to me was Vatu. I avoided looking at him because it reminded me of the slave my mother used to have back in Morrowind, back when she worked on a Dres family plantation as an apprentice to her master, Mistress Dratha. When she was there with her master when a Khajiit slave broke free of her locks and overran the plantation with the help of some Dunmer and the other slaves. My mother later worked with more slaves, even owning one of her own. I grew up in Morrowind with mom, while dad lived in Chorrol in the Fighters Guild. I moved here to escape Telvanni politics and…well… my mom wanted me to have a slave too. I didn't want it so I came here instead to learn magic under the disguise of getting a degree in enchanting at the Mages Guild's Arcane University. That's why I didn't want to sit next to this Khajiit; he looks too much like the one my mom tried to buy for my fifteenth birthday two weeks days ago. And I just don't like Altmers. They treat Dunmer like we're the lowest class of elves. He probably only wanted to make me feel bad for being a this university while uplifting his own intelligence. Gods I hate them both.

Our instructor went on with the class, pulling out a knife and a soul gem. I kept my head put in my book, reading something about how the Mythic Dawn used forbidden magic to summon all the Daedra into our realm. I wanted to know why it happened, and how they did it. Just in case I ever needed to reverse the process. "What spell do we use to trap souls in gems?"

My hand darted up from the book and I answered before I could stop myself. "Soul Trap. It's a Mysticism spell." I snapped my eyes shut and pulled my arm back down as quickly as I could. I silently cursed at myself for speaking out of turn like that. Of course, _everyone_ knew that! The answer was in the question. Now everyone is going to think I'm some opportunist idiot that is looking to hog all the spotlight!

"Very good….Davilia, right?" She said to me, looking at her name roster. Oh great, now everyone knows my name. How can this day get any worse?

"So, your name is Davilia?" Erandur directed his whispered question to me, making me smack my head into my book. Oh great, now he knows my name!

I sat there as quietly as I could while the instructor started explaining the process for using normal soul gems. I knew all about this subject. My mother always forced me into becoming an enchanter. It was because of enchanters that mages get paid for their services. Mom wanted me to learn enchanting so that I could profit from it later in life, so that I could afford more slaves for our Dres family partners back in Morrowind. I never wanted to go home. I sat there and listened to the teacher while she talked about sealing souls into soul gems. And then she told us that…we weren't going to do that at all, but an older method only used by battlemages nowadays. And then my heart sank. I was so familiar with enchanting by using soul gems that I didn't know any other ways. And…hearing that we were using a different method scared me. I wasn't ready for this! I needed to read a couple books about it; get familiar with it first!

"But ma'am…" Erandur said from my right. "if we're not using soul gems…the only source for enchanting weapons…what are we using?"

Our instructor smirked and placed her hands on her hips. "Good question. The knife that was given to you is your passing grade for this course. For the non-battlemages; soul trapping creatures that I summon and using the soul gem to enchant their knife is their passing grade for the course. All you battlemage trainees are magicka-weaving your weapons to make them enchanted. Once you do that, you pass my course and you don't have to step foot in this class room ever again. Of course, the spell that you're weaving is up to me."

"Not using soul gems?" I found myself saying as I collapsed my head into my arms and let out a quiet sob. I placed my book down, trying to think of any other way possible to enchant weapons without soul gems. My mom never told me anything. So, it was true then. This was a technique knew only by the Imperial battlemages. I quickly pulled out my book about enchanting and started flipping through all the pages I could, trying to find this term 'magicka-weaving'. I didn't find it anywhere in my book at all. "My book of enchanting says nothing about magicka-weaving. All it talks about is using soul gems."

I looked up at my instructor. She was smiling as she nodded to us. That's when I heard the Khajiit open his mouth. "Actually, I know about energy-weaving." What? He knows about this? How could that be? He was just a Khajiit! And…no…I couldn't think like that. I was about to say that he belonged in the field pulling ash yams for the harvest. This was Cyrodiil, and this was a Cyrodiilian Khajiit, not one of the slaves in Morrowind. I just had to remember that when he talked to me, if he ever talked to me. We shared a smile last class, but that was the extent of the social contact I wanted with him.

"We may be special because of our program we're in, but shouldn't we learn how to use soul gems too?" Erandur asked our teacher.

Before she could answer, I muttered something out that I shouldn't have. "Anyone can use a soul gem." I stated sarcastically to the elf, but when he and the Khajiit turned to look at me, I sunk even further into my seat. And instead of shutting up, like I wanted it, I started stress-talking. "It is a simple process of manipulating the energy within the soul gem into the actual weapon. From there, you will the soul to take a certain form of magicka and according to the strength of the soul; it takes the form of the enchanted weapon." I couldn't shut my mouth but I knew that stepping on my foot would at least take my attention off their gazes. And it worked…and it shut my mouth too.

The Khajiit's face broke into a smile. "You sure do know a lot. I don't think you pulled that from you book." He said it in a knowing way. Oh no…he knew something about me. Was he a slave after all? Did he know my mother? Oh no…I couldn't handle that. But, I couldn't hide from it either.

I tried to sit up as much as I could. "My mother is an enchanter. I've soul-trapped and enchanted weapons before…as her _apprentice_." _Mostly slave bracelets. Please don't hate me for it! _I thought to myself as the Khajiit continued to stare into my eyes. I looked away. I couldn't face them. He knew who I was. He knew what I was.

"So…how does it work?" Erandur asked from the other side of me.

It was such a welcome distraction from the Khajiit that I sat up straighter and turned to answer him. "The Mysticism spell for soul trapping requires that you can feel the creature's soul. Once you can feel and see it, you have to be able to grab onto it. You can only do this for so long before you break your hold on it. So, you have to separate it from the body first. You do that by killing it. From there, you snatch the soul away and put it into the soul gem. If the soul is weak enough to be held in it; it fits and will stay in there. If it is too strong; it will slip away. Part of a soul does nothing."

Erandur smiled and shook his head. Did he think I was wrong? It would figure; his corrective superior attitude was already showing itself. He baited me into a trap, just so that he could push me down and demean me! I swear, this was the last time I fall for one of his traps! "You sure do know your craft." He said with a chuckle. Oh… perhaps he was just astounded that I knew something he didn't. Could that be considered narcissistic too?

"as it makes using soul gems easy." I caught Erandur saying to our instructor as she looked down at our table. I had missed the whole part of the conversation. What happened?

Jurard turned back to look at us. She had just come from one of the nearby tables, explaining to them how to use the already filled soul gems. She nodded to our little table of three and pointed to the knife. Ok, time for her explanation. Just let me get this done with so I can leave these two and never talk to them ever again. "For right now, I want you to focus on your bare energy." Bare energy? What is…bare energy? "The stuff that makes your magicka turn into spells." Oh…ok… "It's the warm flowing feeling in your limbs. I want you to try to refocus that energy into electricity and let it flow into your daggers. I want you to attach your magicka to your weapon. This is an age-old method kept alive by battlemages. This method was used long before we discovered that soul gems could be used for enchanting. We keep it alive because we never know when soul gems are going to disappear again."

I couldn't believe how simple she made it sound. Ok, so I was basically throwing my magicka into the weapon itself, but using mysticism in a way to attach the magicka to the weapon itself. So…how would I do that? I glanced at the other two. The Khajiit and Altmer looked lost so I grabbed the knife first. I wanted out of here, and away from these two. So, I willed my magicka to turn into electricity and I just…slowly and carefully launched it into the knife, willing it to grab onto the knife and hold onto it. And I could feel the magicka grab onto it, and hold on too. I could feel my own energy collect into the knife. It was slowly leaking out; it wouldn't hold for long, but it was inside it. I wonder if I pressed this knife up to someone if the energy would surge out and attack that person. In theory it should, so why not? I waved for our instructor to come over to us, "I think I did it." I called out to her.

It drew her back to our table. She looked impressed at how quickly I did it, but she carefully grabbed onto the knife. Now, hold on." She looked at the weapon and said, "You are close. As it is right now, you have about three uses out of this." She placed the dagger on the table and looked up at me with a wide smile. "That's a great start. I'll rephrase my earlier statement: in order to pass the first part of my class, you need to spell-weave a Lesser Soul Gem's strength soul into your dagger. This is not even petty level. Keep it up."

…

[Veselle]

The light scene faded from my eyes as Davilia took her hand off my head. I was still lost in thought as she smiled at me. "You know, that Altmer…I married him after the Aedra Wars. He thought I died in Kvatch. But I survived…because my friend Primrose healed me. We got separated from our group and I couldn't find Erandur until the war was already over. You may think you don't have any friends right now…but they're around the corner. Just give your master and your new partner time…they'll warm up to you soon enough."

I wanted to call out to her to explain the magicka-weaving process more, but she was already stepping back. "Wait, I need more answers."

She smiled at me just as warmly as her instructor smiled at her. "You know enough. Now…make me proud." She faded away, and I could hear Master Neloth blowing on his tea.

"Blasted tea, I think I scorched my canis root." He grumbled to himself as he picked up the cup. He looked over at me, glaring as usual. "Did you figure it out yet?"

I nodded. "I…I really need to take a nap."

He nodded a reply. "Go ahead, I won't stop you. I'll give you six hours. That will make it…what 11:00 a.m.? Then we'll go on our field trip after you fill your heart stones and I enchant your boots." Oh yeah…I forgot about those boots.

I didn't care. After going through all that, I really needed to just lie down for a couple hours. So, I walked back to my sleeping mat and lied my head back down. Almost as fast as I lied down, I fell asleep. Poor Davilia; to have to grow up in a time where she couldn't look at someone like a Khajiit and not think of them in a way that resembled a slave.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_I know a long time ago, back in the Khajiit Battlemage, I covered this very subject. I also know that I stated later on in the Khajiit Battlemage that Davilia possibly had some experience with Khajiit slaves. Remember that chapter? The one where she met her father and Vatu asked her about her opinion about slavery, where she totally avoided the subject and it obviously made her uncomfortable to discuss? Yeah, this is why. I finally shared Davilia's past...five books later (and about 400 years later too). Oh, and next chapter will be out in like six days or something. I just wanted to give you guys a second chapter to enjoy.  
_


	3. Will you make a contract with me?

**Cearbhail**:

___I loved writing this chapter. It has a little bit of everything I enjoy from my combative chapters. Well, it should be good, but I don't have much to say about it other than that I loved it.  
_

___Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
_

* * *

_Dear book of shadows, 4e 206 22nd Rain's Hand_

_Master Neloth just reprimanded me on not putting the current date on all my entries. 'How will anyone know during what period these entries were made in?' he said to me before throwing it in my face, demanding that I wake up and get ready for the field trip. According to Master Neloth, our history is only correctly stored if we keep account for the period for which the journal existed in. I don't understand it fully, but if I want to become a journal ghost like Master Davilia, I have to do this right. Not entirely sure I want to be imprinted on this book. What will I look like when someone opens the book open? Will I look like I do now, or will I look like some old woman? Davilia looked like a young woman but in her memory, she looked like my age. She probably was at the time. I watched the whole event through her eyes. And she taught me a lot about how things may look but how they truly are. She made friends where she was, it just took some time. I guess it will be the same for me. I just hope it doesn't take too long._

_Ok, so I had to sit down to some heart stones and use the knowledge I learned from Master Davilia's book to fill them with energy. And…something happened. I don't know exactly what it was, but something happened. When I sat down to the heart stone and performed the same pushing feeling I gathered from Master Davilia's book, I felt some pit of fire in my chest expand. It was quiet, like a flame that lied in waiting for fresh air to feed off of. When I called forth my magicka, that fire exploded inside me and next thing I knew, it all flew from inside me and into the heart stone. It was overpowered that some of my energy exploded outside it, throwing me away from the table. And…the table caught on fire. Master Neloth was there to put out the flames with his frost magicka. Jeez…I'm just one giant fire hazard. Perhaps I should just stay outside for now on._

_Anyway, we're preparing for a field trip now, so I have to get packed up._

_Veselle Tenvanni._

_…_

"Are you done with your book entry, Apprentice?" Master Neloth asked me as he walked up with my newly enchanted boots. They were dark red boots that matched my equally dark red robes. I could see all the heart stones I had enchanted lining the top of the boots in a decorative pattern. When he handed me the boots, he nodded. "You did a decent job on the heart stones, Apprentice. I could feel the grand soul gem strength enchanting of each and every one of them. I used the energy of the heart stones to enchant the fire protection into your boots. Just like your robes, you should not have any problems from using fire now."

I nodded my thanks to him and took the boots from him. I slipped them on and turned to my backpack. "What should I bring with me?" I asked him.

He crossed his arms. "How about for starters, you don't bring anything other than your staff. You won't need it." He took the backpack from my hands, throwing it over his own shoulder. "If you carry this bag and you decide to let your fire explode like you did today…you won't have a backpack anymore. I will enchant it when we get back, but until then, I will make Talvas carry it." He walked past me and up to the 'levitator' as he called it. He nodded to me as he was lifted off his feet. "Do hurry, Veselle. I wish to begin." Begin what? What were we going to do on this field trip?

I stood up from my little mat, ran over to my staff leaning against the wall, grabbed it, and ran over to the levitator. I looked down at my staff, wondering how I managed to create this. It had heart stones lining near the top and bottom of the staff's frame, with one focusing quartz crystal resting on the top. The staff itself was some type of metal, painted red, much like my robes. In fact, the staff almost matched me perfectly (since my clothes seem to be covered in heart stones too). I had enchanted it to control fire, but I guess the staff worked a little differently. Master told me that the method he had taught me had actually made the staff feed off of my magicka and take the form I needed it to. This staff would do any magicka I wanted it to, but it would feed off of me. I thought the whole point of a staff was so that I didn't have to use my magicka if I didn't feel like it, or if I just ran out. Apparently, this is a _training_ staff. It helps me control and focus my magicka when I want to use it. I don't know what that means, but if it means I don't explode the tower, then I'm ok with it.

I willed the levitator to let me go to the bottom floor and it lifted me off my feet. By now I was getting pretty comfortable with lifted into the air, but I was still grabbing my dress robes to make sure they didn't come up while I was going down. And just like every time, I was worried about nothing. It was like I was standing on the ground while flying downwards. I'm guessing the air in the invisible bubble I was floating in kept my robes just as flat. That's good because I get scared if I feel wind while I'm falling. It's a 30 foot drop. I don't like jumping more than 5 feet, why would I enjoy falling for 30?

I touched gently on the main floor and rushed out the door. I was suddenly welcomed with the bright sunlight that I hadn't seen much since I'd been here. I looked around for Master Neloth. He and Talvas were standing by the triple training circles that Master drew for me. It was my special training area for me to practice my magicka in until I learned how to control it better. I heard a slight boom off to my left. I looked for the source of the noise and found myself staring at Red Mountain. More clouds of ash were flying out of the top. Great…more ash. Like we don't have enough as it was. And just as I thought it, the dark ash clouds rolled over to us. Almost just as quickly as the slowly moving clouds rolled in, the bright sunlight I loved so much vanished and tiny flakes of ash started falling from the sky like tiny clumps of snow.

I groaned, brushed the ash off my hair, and threw my hood up. I jogged to catch up to the two as they waited for me by the training circles. When I did approach them, Master Neloth was busy rubbing his chin in thought. "Hmm…it seems that I created a training circle for Veselle. Do you feel that pressure?" He looked at Talvas.

"You mean the amount of energy that lingers inside here?" I stopped and hid myself behind a bush. Were they talking about me? Would it be rude of me to just run up and bother them, or would me hiding behind a bush be even ruder? I didn't know, but it was the first time I heard Master and Talvas talk…and it was about me. I was a little curious. Talvas looked back at the training circles. "You can taste the fumes that burned inside here. It's thick, much thicker than anything I've ever felt."

"She is dangerous." Master Neloth said with a nod. "I do wish I could have remembered seeing this. The residual scaring of the wards go up 40 feet up the interior ward. For someone, some…mere apprentice, is astonishing." He looked over at Talvas. "I'm expecting you to take good care of her, Apprentice Talvas. She is your roommate until her room is grown."

Talvas only groaned. "But Master…a teenage boy and a teenage girl…" He gestured to Master Neloth. "You don't know what I'll do to her."

Neloth only smirked and gestured to the ground. "Just remember what she did here and I'm sure you don't try anything stupid."

Talvas swallowed hard and his eyes went wide. "You're…you're serious, aren't you? You're making her my roommate!"

Neloth nodded. "I'm not worried about the two of you sleeping in the same room, but she can't sleep up in the tower every night. The tower was not made to be someone's bedroom."

"My room is too small for both of us." Talvas retorted. "It's just big enough for me to sleep and study in. It can't hold two people."

Neloth nodded. "I suppose that is true. But then…where do we put her until her room is ready?"

I stood up from my bush. "Ok, I'm ready." I called out as I ran up to them. They both looked from each other to me. I stopped and looked at them. "What were you talking about?"

Neloth smirked. "We saw you coming hiding behind the bush, apprentice. Do not worry; you'll stay in the tower with me until your room is built. However, we were serious about the strength of your magicka. You have an overabundance of magicka reserve. It's almost impossible for you to run out of magicka. That is something only master wizards like myself have, and you have almost as much as magicka as I do, it seems, if not more. You are dangerous, in many ways. However, I feel that as you progress and become a full Telvanni mage that you'll only grow more powerful. What you will do with that power, I hope is responsible. When you fully develop your power, even I will not be able to stop you if you go bad." He glared at me. "Perhaps I should kill you now so that you will not pose a threat in the future." He looked so serious that I thought about running away. But, I knew it wouldn't do me any good. He'd still catch me and kill me.

So, instead, I tossed the staff out of my hands to his feet. "And if I just quit?" I couldn't believe I just said that to him. My face was burning red with both embarrassment, shame, and anticipated punishment. I couldn't take my eyes off his. Oh no…I was glaring at my Master. He was going to punish me so badly after this.

Instead of a lecture or a glare, I received a cold smile. Ok…I guess that's better than a sneer, or a smirk. He started chuckling as he picked up my staff, handing it back to me. "That's the spirit of a true Telvanni mage. Say you'll quit but that look in your eyes tells me differently. You have potential, Veselle…and if you leave now you'll only be more of a threat. Those robes won't exist forever, and with your abilities of enchanting, you'll only create robes that last a few weeks at most. You'll eventually lose your amulet and burn down an entire town. People will hunt the witch that only brings death and pain. That will be you someday, if you do not first learn to control it first. You will stay." He said as a finality as he turned to Talvas. "She is your underclassman, so it is your job to guide her through her studies until she is as good as you. Considering her ability to learn pretty quickly, I give it three days max."

Talvas only scoffed. "Always the kidder, Master." When Master Neloth just looked at him before turning to leave Talvas looked less certain. "Wait…Master. That was a joke, right? Master!" He cried to him as he chased to catch up to Master Neloth.

Master Neloth looked back at me and then at Talvas. "Come you two, we need to collect some ash."

"What are we doing today, sir?" Talvas asked.

"I just told you, we're collecting ash. Not just any ash, but ash from ash spawns. I need five different samples of ash spawn ash. I want to see if I can use the heart stones to create my own ash spawn. It would help to have my own guards protect my tower when more ash spawn come to attack it." He said to us. "And I have just the place to find them. Some old fort just to the west of us seems to have a vast collection of them."

We traveled in silence for a while. Master Neloth led us through the ankle deep ash to the fort. More ash fell down from the sky and it hated it. I wanted nothing more than to go back to Riften and lie down in the leaves outside town. I'm still not used to eating ash yams. It about all we can grow here in Solstiem, I hear. Even snowberries die off in the ash. In order to get more, we have to travel up north to the snowfields where snowberries grow. Good thing I know what they look like. They make some nice jam for us to eat on our bread. As for meat, I think we've been eating ash hoppers with our ash yams. Ash, ash, ash. I'm so sick of ash.

"Be on your guard now, children. We're here." Master Neloth called to us.

I paused before I crashed into Talvas, who only crossed his arms. "Sir, I'll be turning 16 in two months. I'm no child."

He smirked at the comment. "Live for 500 years and then talk to me about what constitutes as a child. Not saying I've lived so long, but some of our greatest masters have. I'm nearing 63 now, so even still you are a child." He reached for the four staves resting on a staff carrier on his back. "Ready your staves, children. I expect a war."

The ash below my legs started blowing across the silent wind as we stood at the entrance to the old fort. Somewhere in the ash, I could hear voices whispering to me. I couldn't tell what they were saying, it sounded like some foreign language I didn't understand, and I could just barely hear it over the silent wind. I looked down at the ash. It was rolling; collecting into a ball. I stepped back, almost crying out in surprise or horror as a head and two red glowing eyes poked out of the ash. Just as quickly a hand shot out of the ash, grabbing on the ground as the thing pulled itself onto the ground. It grabbed onto my leg, tightened its grip, and pulled on me as it pulled itself out of the ash. At that time…I did scream out loud.

I was enough to call Master Neloth's attention. He spun to face me, stuck out his hand, and there was a feeling of the hand flying of my leg into pure ash again. The hand started forming on the already collecting ash and the thing reached out for my leg again. I jogged back as much as I could and the hand missed my leg as it reached out to snatch me again. Talvas stepped up to blast the thing, but Master Neloth stopped him by throwing his arm in front of him before he could do something. "Let it form to enough to where I can see the heart stone. All my research depends on the heart stone."

As I jumped back, I heard more ash whirring around me. More heads and hands started forming in the ash, all circling around me. Red eyes glowed in the ash as the heads poked out, their hands clawing at the ground as they pulled themselves together. I looked up at Master Neloth, who only smiled as he looked around, nodding in appreciation. I counted more than ten ash spawn pulling themselves out of the ash all around me. _We're under attack. All soldiers to the frontlines. Draw back the invaders._ I heard someone calling through the air. I don't think Talvas or Master Neloth heard it. They didn't exactly respond to the voice.

But I heard all the explosions around them. Talvas cursed and dove for cover, while Master Neloth threw up a protective ward shield. He looked away from me to the entrance. "We have more ash spawn advancing. I was right; it's an army. We should exterminate them before they come to the tower. Now is our chance." He charged right into the courtyard, leaving Talvas and me alone with the forming ash spawn.

Talvas looked from me to Master Neloth. "Master!"

"Hurry, Talvas. We need to get to the bottom of this." Master called from the entrance to the fort. I could see the remnants of ash spawn he had trampled through.

"But…Veselle…" He started to say. The first ash spawn pulled itself out of the ground and stuck out its hand. I could see the glowing black and red stone lodged deep in its chest. A giant sword formed in its hand and it charged up to me, slashing at me. I brought my staff up to protect me and I felt the sigils on it glow with my power. Just as suddenly as the ash spawn attacked me, I saw a brilliant flame burst from the tip of my staff. The flames engulfed the ash spawn, melting the ash-formed monster. The heart stone fell from the chest, and the rest of the monster faded away with it.

"She can handle herself." Master called to Talvas. "I however need you to handle the prison. There are hundreds inside this main fort that require my immediate attention." Master turned to look at me. "Good luck, Veselle. Hopefully you're still alive when I return." With that he vanished inside the fort.

Talvas only scoffed and turned to look at me. "Want me to help you?"

I looked from the melted one ash spawn to the nine others climbing out of the ground. "Yes?"

He nodded and walked up to me. He brought his fists up to defend his face. He placed his back to mine. "You defend your side, I'll defend mine. Ok? By the way, sorry about last night. I just hate sharing that small space with someone else."

"I get it. I didn't really want to be in there either. I thought it would be too uncomfortable with both of us." I said back to him, keeping my eyes on the rising ash spawn. "Did…did Master ever force you to do stuff like this before you were ready?"

"No." Talvas said. "He kept me inside the practice circle all my first week. I only needed one, though. The one that kept harmful things outside. But then again, we didn't really have ash spawn attacking us either. These just started up about five months ago. And the town has asked Master Neloth to find the source of the ash spawn and get rid of them. So, he's been doing everything he can do to find out who's summoning them, or how they're forming. That's why he's so busy with his research on ash and heart stones. He's stuck in a loop of information. The heart stones bring ash spawn to life, but they seem to have a collective thought, a hive mind. Master Neloth can't figure out what the hive mind is or what's controlling it."

The first three of the ash spawn near me had finally taken full form. I could see more heart stones sitting in their chests. _Attack intruders._ I heard one say as it reached into the ash and pulled out a long sword out of it. _Kill all who interrupt experiment._ Another said. _Revenge!_ The third said. "I can hear voices in the ash." I said to him. "I think these heart stones have something to do with it."

"You should tell Master that. I'm sure he'd love you to death if you figured out what he's missing in his research." He responded. He started warming up his hands with what looked like frost magicka. "By the way, I know you're working with just flames right now, but…frost magic works a lot better than fire on these things. Fire does almost nothing to them, and for Master to leave you alone like this…he must really believe in you."

"Or just want me dead." I mumbled under my breath. The first ash spawn charged up to me, slashing at me. I raised my staff to catch the blow. The sword caught my staff with such force that I was thrown right off my feet and into the ash. When I looked down, I could see that arms had reached out and pulled me down. The ash on the ground actually started wrapping around my body, pulling me flat to the ground. My chest was wrapped under the ash and I could see the spawn raising is sword to kill me. "Um…Talvas?" I called to him. "Help!" Just as the ash spawn prepared to stab me a giant icicle slammed into the thing's chest. The icicle flew through the ash spawn and the body fell to pieces. I could see the heart stone encased in the icicle lodged in the ground not too far from us. The ash wrapping around me relinquished any hold it had on me and I jumped up to my feet as fast as I could. "Thanks." I turned to look at him.

"No problem." He called back. "By the way, the best way to kill an ash spawn is to just take the heart stone out of it. The thing just falls apart. Not sure what you can do with that knowledge, but good luck nonetheless." He turned back to his several ash spawn. I watched as he danced across them, his hands glowing with frost. He launched his hand out, touching the chest of an attacking spawn. Ice formed at the touch of the spawn and the heart stone froze on impact. The body fell to ashes as the block of ice heart stone fell to the ground. Ok, so that's how it works then. Ok, maybe I can do something then. Oh…I got it.

I turned to face the three spawn coming at me. I smiled because I knew martial arts. Karliah was nice to me and told me that a nice girl like myself growing up in Riften would eventually be raped or mugged. So she taught me to drop even the strongest opponents. Mjoll helped with the lessons. So, I'm pretty good at fighting, even without fighting. I'm not good with a sword or anything, but…a bo staff…that's different. And my staff was nothing more than an enchanted bo staff with a spear tip…well crystal tip. I just hope I didn't break it. Enchanted staffs aren't supposed to break so…I hope not.

As the first spawn attacked me, I spun my staff. I caught the attack with a counter-attack, which threw the spawn off balance. I back-spun the staff, slammed him in the arm, tore through it, and then backed off. The spawn's arm fell to ashes, but it started regenerating. I was quick as I jumped in, flicked my staff at the chest, contacted with the heart stone, and sent it flying through the air as it flew through the spawn's chest. I jumped back right as the spawn fell to its death. Well…that happened. Now, I only had six more to deal with. I ran up to the next one, but he wasn't coming at me with a sword. No, he just stuck out his hand and blasted some sort of ash magic at me. The ball of exploding ash hit me right in the stomach. It was enough to throw me back. At the same time I buckled over from the hit, a giant whip of ash came up flicking the staff from my hands.

I looked over my shoulder to find my staff, but instead of finding it, I only felt a massive hot pain overflow my body. It felt like burning sand slamming me in the face. I stuck my hand out to protect me. I couldn't see what was going on, but I felt for any heart stone I could find. And I found it. I grabbed it and pulled as hard as I could at it. The hot burning sand feeling faded away, and I only felt soft ash fall down on top of me. I fought to push myself out of the ash, coughing up some as I did so. Talvas was in front of me, two hands freezing two spawn getting ready to kill me. Both bodies and weapons fell to pieces on top of me, just adding the amount of ash covering me. Did I mention that I'm sick of all the ash? Yeah, this is not helping.

Talvas scanned the area and then nodded. He turned around and stuck his hand for me to take. "We're clear. That was the last of them." I took his hand and he pulled me out of the ash. "You look horrible."

"I need a bath." I said to him. He helped me brush off all the ash as we waited for Master Neloth to come out of the main fort.

"I should go clear out the prison before Master yells at me for staying out here to protect you." He nodded to me and took off for the prison. I looked for my staff and found it lying near a pile of ash with a frozen heart stone inside it. When I reached down to take the staff, I heard a loud wail in the wind. _Full charge, attack. Defend the main tower!_ It scared me to hear that in my ear so far from the fort. When I grabbed the staff, it fed off my fear, I think. The ice covering the heart stone started melting to the heat my staff was producing. When I looked down at the melting ice, the heart stone started glowing. The ash started collecting and I thought that my life was over. The ash stated spinning around and it wasn't forming into some spawn, but as something else. The ash flew into the air, forming big rocks. A face formed in the ash with a body that seemed to be made out of ash that spun around the air. The heart stone spun around the middle of the ash. I reached for the stone to get rid of whatever this was before it became any worse. Ash collected around the heart stone, collecting it inside a rock made of ash. Oh great…now what?

And that's when a bunch of flying ash hardened into a fist that smashed me in the face. It hit me so hard that my vision blacked out. Next thing I knew, I was lying several feet away and dazed. I tried to stand up, but as I looked at the monster, it raised its whirlwind arms and then launched them at me. I could see all the ash in front of it lift off the ground and fly at me. I quickly scrambled to roll to my feet and away from it. I got away just in time to feel the ground behind me explode into a wave of ash. When I rolled to my knees, I looked back at the hole I was lying in. It was covered in shards of rocks that were dissolving into ash. Ok…not going to lie. I'm scared to death of this thing.

I reached for my staff. My trembling fingers found the staff just fine, and picked it up. But standing up was something else. My stomach, my throat, my head were all spinning and scrunching up on me. I felt like I was going to vomit out of pure fear. I never thought I'd see something as horrible as this thing ever since Mehrunes Maven. But… that's the thing, isn't it? These things exist and people have to fight them every day. And Master Neloth voluntarily fought this stuff all the time. And he did it with a nonchalant look on his face. Just what had he fought in the past that made him so indifferent to this stuff? I don't think I could ever face something like this.

_Make a contract with me!_ I heard in the back of my head. "What?" I actually called out loud. The ash thingy was warming up another blast so I pushed off the ground right as a wave of ash spines flew around me. I brought my hands up as the ash thingy sprayed more and more ash stuff at me. I felt a couple spines tear through my robes, hitting me a few times. Crap! I just got these robes and they were already falling apart on me. _You heard me! Make a contract with me! I can't help you from Aetherius without your permission!_

"Um…ok." I called to the sky. "Whatever you say."

_Here are the terms and conditions. I'm a kyuubi; a fox spirit with nine tails. I'm not that strong of a spirit but I'm eager to be bound to your service and to grow off of your magicka, as all bound spiritual creatures do. The Aedra seem to think I can help you so…there it is. I'm available whenever you need me, and I can use every element designed by the gods. Ok?_ I could hear the voice in my head. "Ok, whatever. I accept the terms and conditions. Just come here and help me." There was a long pause before I heard some squeaking. _Um…I can't summon myself, you know. You have to do it._ "How?" I called to the wind. I jumped out of the way as another round of sharp ash flew past me. _You know…Conjuration magic, duh…_ "I don't know Conjuration magic." I screamed to the sky. _Oh…_ I could hear the disappointment from the sky. _Good luck then._

I was so distracted that the ash storm slammed into me and I was thrown off my feet. I cried out in pain as I felt several spines lodged in my arms and legs. My robes were almost completely torn to shreds. I struggled to keep the robes attached to my body as I struggled to sit up. The spines in my arms and legs kept me locked to the ground. It hurt too much to move. I had no choice. Better learn on the fly. Ok…I did this before. How did I do it? I managed to summon a Vermeister once and he saved my life. How was I going to do this? I closed my eyes and searched for something I could do. "I call upon you from the heavens to the mortal plane. I summon thee, kyuubi!"

And…nothing happened. I cried to myself as I struggled to sit up. _You can't just call me, Veselle. You need to form Conjuration magic._ "How?" I asked the sky. _Um…I've never been contracted or bound before. So…I think it's like vroom vroom type magic, you know?_ "No…not really." I said in return. _Vroom vroom magic. Um…how do I phrase this? Imagine your soul connecting to my soul. And now, imagine that line stretching from you to me. Imagine the intention of summoning me in the palm of your hand. It's pure magicka, but it takes the form of portal magic. It's all about intention. You want me there, you need me there. So you bring me there. We're bound now, we share energy. Your magicka is now my magicka. And you summon me by willing me to come. Your magicka will take care of the rest. Ok? See…vroom vroom._

So, I started gathering my magicka into my hand. I remembered how it felt from when I witnessed Davilia's magical training. I felt the whirling energy in my hand and I willed the kyuubi to come to my aid. The magicka in my hand turned from clear-ish to pure white and blue. When I released the ball of energy, it expanded into a portal. And out jumped a little white fox spirit with nine tails. Light blue runes ran across its fur, and the fox was about the size of a large cat. The kyuubi looked at me and smiled with blue glowing eyes. "Nice to meet you. I'm Kyuu. It's short for Kyuute. That was the first name ever given to me by some girl that summoned me by accident one day. Oh…I guess I _have_ been contracted before. I just didn't do anything important."

"Introductions later." I said to Kyuu. "Please, get rid of that thing."

Kyuu looked from me over to the ash thingy. "An Ash Guardian?" Kyuu asked. "I can't fight that thing. I'm a novice summoned creature. I'm not strong enough to fight that thing yet. But I can do this…" He walked up to me, stepping up to my chest. "Heal beam!" A giant white light fell from the sky on top of us. The ash shards turned to dust and my wounds started to close. More than just that but my robes started to regenerate too. When the light faded, Kyuu smiled. "See, all better."

The ash guardian raised its whirlwinds as it prepared to attack me. I rolled Kyuu into my arms and pushed off the ground. "We're not safe yet." The ground behind me erupted into an ash spray. The ash guardian rolled his attack with me and the ash spray threatened to overwhelm me again. I looked around for my staff, but I couldn't find it. As the ash spray fell around us, Kyuu's ears shot straight up. "Protection Ward Spell." Kyuu cried out. A giant shield formed in front of us and took the brunt of the attack of the ash spray. The ward dropped when the spray ended and Kyuu looked up at me. "Don't worry, I know Warding magic at least. As you grow stronger in in magicka so will I. You have a lot of reserve, but it's knowledge and control that I need to grow stronger than this." He smiled. "I can't wait to become stronger like my parents."

"You won't get the chance to grow stronger if I die." I said as I looked down at him. "We need to beat this thing. We can do it."

He looked up at me with uncertain eyes. "Umm…ok, but I'm still new to this. What do you want me to do?"

"I don't know, I'm new to this too." I said to Kyuu. As the ash guardian warmed up another ash spray, I looked down at him. "Another ward, hurry!"

"Right away!" He said as his ears flicked upward. His eyes grew even brighter blue and a giant shield formed in front of us. The shield took the ash spray just like the last one, but this time Kyuu cried out. "I can't keep this up forever!" He said to me. "I don't have much magicka, and I used a lot of it healing your body…and clothes."

I looked around for my staff, and found it lying in the sand behind the advancing ash guardian. "Ok…I have a plan. I'm going to drop you and you will get my staff. I'll keep the thing's attention on me and then you just have to bring my staff over to me. Ok?"

He looked up at me. "I'm going to miss you. You were my only friend in a hundred years. Oh well." He jumped from my arms and took off for the staff. "If I get hit too hard I will die, you know that, right? And then you'll have to wait until my wounds heal before I can come back. And it takes a few minutes. In that time frame, you'd be dead." He said as he dodged the ash guardian as it took a swipe at him. The ash guardian was turning to swipe at Kyuu again.

I plucked the necklace on my neck and tossed it away from me. Just as quickly as I did that, my body lit up on fire. The area around me lit up just as quickly. And that drew the ash guardian's attention. It looked over at me with two glowing red eyes. It raised its hands to me and unleashed what it had at me. I screamed out in fear and willed the fire to protect me. A wall of fire built up in front of me, taking the ash spray. I could see a visible line where the fire pushed against the ash and managed to protect me from the guardian's wrath.

"Got it!" Kyuu called. He wrapped a tail around my staff, and flicked it out of the ash over to me with surprising strength. I caught it as it flew over to me and began willing my fire into it. "I can feel your control brewing." Kyuu called. "And I feel it flowing through me. The element of fire has been added to my spell collection." Small blue flames lit up around his nine tails and he pushed off the ground with the grace you'd expect from an angelic fox. He spun around several times, covering himself in fire. He landed right on top of the ash guardian's head and started breathing fire down on it. A rock formed in the mist of ash and slammed into Kyuu. He cried out in alarm as he flew through the air and crashed into one of the walls.

"Kyuu!" I called out. I stuck out my staff and willed everything I had to destroy that guardian. And the staff responded. The whole crystal glowed with untapped power and when it released, it roared like a dragon. A massive whirlwind of fire raced from my staff, overwhelming everything in front of me. The sheer force of it pushed me back and I found myself barely able to plant my feet as I struggled to stay rooted. The fire died off quickly and I fell to my knees after the effort was done. When the ash settled, I could see a wall of glass. Behind it was the ash guardian. It rolled past the wall of glass and started sailing up to me. Well…this was it then.

The ground shook. I heard and felt the explosion from the fort's main house. The explosion from the fort threw all the ash in the courtyard up into the air. Before the ash guardian could kill me, we were both taken off our…well for me they were feet. But the ash guardian, I'm guessing he just joined the ash. I flew through the air landing in the sand near the ocean. When I tried to stand up, I could see the guardian already putting itself back together. When it turned to face me, bright green lines flew out of the ground and wrapped around it. A giant white circle encased it and it trashed against the sudden ward. It didn't get him anywhere though.

"Don't worry, Apprentice." Master Neloth called from the courtyard entrance. "He can't hurt you." He walked up to us, looking at it. "What is this…thing?" He asked me. "Believe it was called an 'ash guardian'?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. It formed from a heart stone and started attacking me."

"Good, more diverse test subjects." He said to me. He patted me on my shoulder, actually smiling. "I kept an illusionary eye watching you during your fight. You did very well. And contracting your first ethereal ally. Not bad for your third day." He stopped to look at the trapped ash guardian. "You grab Talvas and head back to the tower. You did well today. Take the rest of the day off and have some sujamma milk."

"Master, I'm underage." I responded.

"You deserve it nonetheless." He said in return. "Collect the heart stones you collected from the ash spawn with Talvas and some ash from them as well. I'll look at it once we get back. Ok?"

I nodded and turned to pick up my staff. "Ok, Master. If you're sure."

He nodded. He looked at me and almost smiled. "I'm more sure than ever. You've earned your place. I'll create your room tonight and will be ready for you before you turn in to sleep. We'll set it up with a bed from town tomorrow. You should be proud of your work today. You acted like a true Telvanni mage." That made me smile. I just got a compliment from Master Neloth, although it seems that he purposely hadn't begun building my bedroom and could have done it in a day's time.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_Ok, so I originally wanted to introduce Kyuute as a hopeless creature in the Daedra realms, being picked on and basically nearly beaten to death by the other Daedra. And then it was supposed to be just 'called' by some conjurer. And next thing Kyuu woke up in a summoning circle with my conjurer character standing over it. Everyone makes fun of her for her pathetic summoning and then they become bound together. but that seems too much like the Familiar of Zero so i decided to go with Madoka Magicka instead. Yes, Madoka Magicka reference. Nice, huh?  
_


	4. Shopping day

**Cearbhail**:

___I'm so glad it's finals week. I only have finals on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, so I have plenty of time to write...(as long as I study enough for the tests). And I have my Japanese test tomorrow, which I know I'm going to rock. Well, either way, I'm glad I got this chapter in. It's not so much about magic this time as it is about Veselle well...you'll see. It's a nice light chapter with no action and just doing stuff that needs to be done for her new room. I liked writing it. It's not much of my cup of tea, though. I don't really enjoy writing these chapters, but it needs to be written, and I did enjoy it more than I enjoyed writing the chapter in Chronicles of Lydia where Lydia spent all day with Cecilie and Ruby while Asger conducted secret meetings with Delphine.  
_

___Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
_

* * *

_Dear book of shadows, 23rd Rain's Hand_

_I love my new room. It's no bigger than Talvas's room but…it has nothing inside it other than my mat and my pillow. It felt nice to sleep in a room all my own, with no eyes looking down on me. No worries about Talvas returning to find me sleeping in his bed. Now I get my own. Master Neloth is taking me to go shopping for room supplies. I get 500 septims to spend on stuff for my room. He calls it my allowance for all my hard work the past few days. It's a lot to spend, I'll admit, but you'd be surprised how much of it will go towards my own enchanting and alchemy table. I'll be lucky if I can afford my own bed and table afterwards. And there is still today's lesson. I'm learning how to write circles today. I can't wait._

_Ok, so yesterday I experienced my first real fight. Talvas and I mopped the floor with a bunch of ash spawn. Sure, I was pretty useless, but I held my own for a minute. And then Talvas saved my neck right before an ash spawn killed me. Right after we managed to kill them all, Talvas ran off to the fort to help Master kill the remaining ash spawn. And right as he left, I was stuck fighting some spinning ash creature called an ash guardian. And no matter what I did, nothing seemed to affect it. As I was slowly being defeated, a creature from Aetherius called out to me to summon it. It taught me how to use Conjuration magic. And I made my first contract with a kyuubi named Kyuute, or Kyuu for short. He's a little annoying, but he saved me from dying so there's that. I own him for saving my life._

_And I guess that will do for today. I have to go buy stuff and then I have more stuff to do with Master Neloth today._

_Veselle Tenvanni._

_…_

I closed my book and sighed. It was so silent. I had one small glowing orb floating on top of my rounded ceiling. It gave off enough light that it lit up my room to where I could read a book comfortably, but to where I could close my eyes and drift off if I wanted too. It had a built-in dimmer too. I really liked it. Master Neloth cast the spell last night when he finished building my room. And he did it right in front of me too. He peeled off a section of his main tower and then stuck in in the ground. And then he used Alteration magic to make it grow. He manipulated the spores with his magic, making it take the shape he wanted to. And then he threw a rod over the hole where the door was going to go sooner or later and then hung a giant cloth over my doorway so that I had some privacy. I got a cold breeze last night and I think I swallowed some ash that flew through the doorway, but other than that the cover worked pretty well.

It was beautiful to see Master Neloth use his magic to create something as beautiful as this room. It's perfect, and it got me a chance to see what I could do with real training in magicka. I couldn't wait to create my own home one day. I think I could get used to living in here while I continued my training. I nodded my head in appreciation as I placed my book on my roll-out matt. I folded my blanket and placed it next to my pillow and looked around my room one last time before I grabbed my staff by the doorway. I paused by the doorway and brushed my hair out of my eyes. It wouldn't stay out of my eyes; I guess my hair needed washed pretty badly. I had too many split ends, so I took a few seconds to pull my hair back into two twintails. My hair was just barely long enough to go past my shoulders, so my twintails were pretty short. I normally would have done a ponytail but for some reason twintails seemed easier today. I paused by the doorway, wishing I had a mirror to see if they were correctly placed. I shrugged it off and started pushing the cloth doorway open. I could see the rising sun through my open doorway, and I could feel the slight cold breeze that brushed my face, although the sun felt so much warmer than the air felt cold. It was the first time I could sleep in until the sun was already up. I closed my 'door' and walked across the yard over to Talvas's room.

I cleared my throat and knocked on his door. I didn't hear a response so I opened the door and peeked inside. Talvas was lying face flat on his bed, snoring lightly, drool rolling down into his pillow. I cleared my throat before I snuck up to his face and screamed, "Good morning!"

Talvas was so quick that I barely had time to react. He pushed himself out of bed and fell right out of his sheets and face first onto the spongy floor. "Shit." He said as he started pushing himself off the floor, rubbing his nose. He gawked up at me like he couldn't believe I was real. "Oh…morning, squirt." He said as he yawned and pushed himself onto his feet. "Why did you do that?"

"We're friends now, right?" I said as I looked up at him. "Aren't I allowed to greet you energetically first thing in the morning?"

His reply was grabbing me by one of my twintails and dragging me to his doorway. "Ow, ow, ow." I said as he almost lifted me up and carried me by my hair to the doorway. When I cleared it, he tossed me gently and then slammed the door behind him, locking it before I could open it. So, I knocked on it again. "Oh, come on! I was joking."

"So was I." He replied back. "I could have done _so much worse_ for that. Oh, and your left pigtail is too far left." I stood by his door for a few seconds longer and I heard him say, "I like my sleep. Please don't interrupt it."

"Ok." I said to his door. "I won't wake you up first thing in the morning." I started undoing my left twintail, and then undid my right one as well. It was a bad idea to do this without a mirror. I collected my hair and pulled it back into a single ponytail. My hair danced on my neck and it bothered me. That's why I wanted twin tails. They rested beside my neck, not behind it. Oh well, I'll just add a mirror to the list of things I needed today. A bed, a table, a mirror, …one enchanting table, and one alchemy table. Not like I wanted those but Master insisted I have them.

"That's not good enough. Don't wake me up, _period_." He shouted through the door.

"Ok, fine." I said snarkily. "I won't wake you up at all." I paused by his door a few seconds longer and then screamed, "And they weren't pigtails, they're _twintails_."

He opened the door and looked down at me. "And the difference is?"

"I'm not six?" Was my reply. "And they aren't braided. Twintails are like ponytails, only on in two not one." I crossed my arms, and flicked my hair around. "And see? Now they're just one ponytail because you said they were uneven."

He smiled briefly before petting me on the head. "Ah, I see the difference now. Keep this up and we'll get along just fine." He walked past me, dressed in similar dark red robes that I was wearing, carrying a staff that looked a lot like mine. He took a deep breath before stretching out his arms. "Ahh…this morning air feels great." He yawned and then started cupping his hands. I could see fire, frost, and lightning crackling around his body. He launched his hands into the air and all three elements roared off his body straight into the sky to disappear into the morning sky. He looked back at me and nodded. "Yup, after you learn all three elements, you'll be expected to greet the morning with a little gift of all three. Oh…that reminds me. You made a contract yesterday, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah…to a small nine-tailed fox. He called himself a kyuubi."

"Hmm…never heard of those. Think you can summon him? I didn't get to see him yesterday." He turned to look at me.

I nodded and closed my eyes. _Hey, Kyuu? Can you hear me?_

_Yeah, I can hear you. What do you need, partner?_

_Mind if I summon you?_

_Hell yeah! I hate being here. I'd rather hang out with you all day!_

I found myself chuckling as I opened my eyes. Talvas was looking at me like I was a weirdo. I found my face blushing over as I felt for the connection between Kyuu and me. When I felt the string that connected us, I willed the energy in my palm to gather into a ball. When it formed, I willed the ball of magicka to bring my partner to me. Then, I let the portal open in my hand. It was quick. The pure clear energy in my hand turned bright white and it expanded big enough for Kyuu to jump through the portal into my chest. When he cleared the portal, I reached out and wrapped him in my arms, where he curled up and relaxed while I carried him. I looked down at Kyuu, and he looked up at me with his bright blue eyes. "Kyuu…this is my training partner, Talvas." I looked up at Talvas. "Talvas, this is my bound ally, Kyuute."

"Cute, huh?" He replied. "Nice name. Definitely speaks volumes about his character. …It is a he, right?"

That was a good question. I looked down at Kyuu and thought I'd just ask it. "Yeah, what gender are you?"

"Gender? What's that?" Kyuu asked with a knowing smile. "I'm a spirit; I don't have a gender. But yeah, I'm totally a boy."

"Are the three of you done wasting time?" Master Neloth asked as he exited the main tower. He looked down at me, then at my summoned spirit, then at Talvas. "Well, well. I see the two of you have overcome your differences. Glad to hear it." He walked up to us, looked down at Kyuu wrapped up in my arms, and then looked up at me. "You went from summoning a Vermeister to a kyuubi? If I may…that is like going from going from summoning a god to a rabbit. Do you understand how weak your new…pet is?"

I looked down at Kyuu, who only whined at me. "I don't like him."

"He grows on you." I said to Kyuu. I hugged him closer to me before saying, "He's mine, and I'm keeping him."

Master Neloth only rolled his eyes. "I don't care. It's good practice on keeping a bound creature in our plane. He draws only a small amount of magicka to summon and barely any on your part to hold him in our plane through the whole day. In fact…that's a good lesson. Any good conjurer should be able to hold a bound creature in our plane while doing other magic. For now on, when you wake up, the first thing you will do is summon your…pet. And hold him in our plane until you go to bed. Is that understood?" He turned to face me.

I nodded to him, hugging Kyuu close to me. "Yes, Master."

Kyuu smiled, rubbing his head on my chest. "Yay!" He squeaked. "I can stay in Mundus."

That caused Master to pause. "You can speak common?" When Kyuu nodded, it made Master rub his chin in thought. "I wish to speak with you while we walk. Mind if we?"

Kyuu shook his head and jumped from my arms onto Master's shoulder. He curled around his neck like he was a scarf and said, "What do you wish to know?"

"Anything you can tell me about Aetherius. The Aedra, major and minor. Everything you can tell me." Master said, and he began leading us down the pathway to Raven Rock. "Come everyone, we have some shopping to do." He looked at Kyuu and started rubbing Kyuu's chin, "Ok, so first question. Why did the Aedra decide to invade during the events of the Aedra War?"

I kinda zoned out for a while as I walked beside Talvas through the worn pathway leading to Raven Rock. Talvas seemed just as interested in Master's conversation with Kyuu as I was. Instead of listening to the two of them talk, he took time to practice summoning lightning in his hands. I watched as lightning would build in one hand and then jump from that hand to the next one. He had such control over his magicka that it looked like he made it dance along his hands, across his fingers, around his arms. He continued to do the same drill over and over again while we continued walking.

I looked down at my hands. Should I be practicing that too? I grabbed the necklace hanging around my neck, making sure it was still there. Master gave it to me so that I wouldn't explode with fire magicka if I got too emotional about something. I almost burnt down his tower once because of it, and every time I got embarrassed or angry I seemed to cause a mushroom cloud of fire magicka. Looking over at Talvas and how he was flicking the stream of lightning he danced around his arm off into the sky, where it turned into a massive beam with a thundering roar, I felt more confident that I wanted to continue learning as much as I could. I wanted to be able to do that one day.

I willed fire to appear in my hand. I felt my hand warm up with energy and I saw a small spark of fire materialize in my hand. That was as far as it got before my entire hand became engulfed in flames. I tried to make it stop but the fire in my hand exploded and roared into the sky. I had to close my eyes it was so bright. I felt someone clamp their hand on my blazing arm and my magicka suddenly stopped. I opened my eyes to see Master Neloth looking back at me. His hands were glowing with some sort of blue cancelling magic, I could tell. He did it once in a while when he wanted me to stop my magicka. "Apprentice Veselle, may I please ask that you reframe from doing that while we're in town?"

I looked around. I didn't know when we got into town, but we seemed to be in the central plaza where everyone did their trading. Everyone in the entire plaza was frozen in spots as they looked at me with wide shocked faces. I pulled my arm out of Master's hand and I bowed to everyone in town. "I'm sorry, everyone. I'm still new to all this."

Someone dressed up in some scary brown armor walked up to Master Neloth. "Lord Neloth, may I ask that next time you bring your students into our town that you keep them on a leash?"

Master turned to look at him. He bowed in respect. "Captain Veleth, how have you been?" Master looked down at me, placing his hand on top of my head. "And this is my newest student, Veselle Tenvanni. She's still trying to control her magicka. And she'll be extra careful while in town for now on…" He looked down at me, squeezing my head a bit. "Isn't that right, Apprentice?"

I nodded. "Yes, Master. I promise to be extra careful."

Master nodded and released my head. "There you have it, Captain. She'll be on her best behavior. We're just in town for supplies. I'm sure you understand how it can be when you have new people to care for."

Captain Veleth nodded. "I understand all too well. So, what are you looking for specifically?"

"A bed for the small one. A large studying desk too; one big enough to hold a small library of books and papers in an organized fashion. I also need one small dresser, big enough for six complete outfits. I also need the following: two small coffee tables; one of which I can turn into an arcane enchanter, and the other one an alchemy laboratory. I will need the necessary supplies to make those. The supplies are as follows: for the alchemy table, I need an inner cauldron; you know the one I speak of. I also need a small calcinator, a small mortar and pestle, and an alembic. That's just for the table. For the arcane enchanter, I will need ten white candles and one crystal ball. And a skull…I need a skull." Master said to Veleth all in one breath, like he had the whole thing planned out already.

"Master?" I pulled on his sleeve and it caught his attention. "I was hoping to get a mirror too."

He arched his eyebrows. "We'll make one out of an Illusion spell. To get an actual mirror is dangerous. Things can travel through mirrors, but Illusion spells…not so much." He nodded his head to Captain Veleth. "Where should I begin my search?"

"How much are you willing to spend?" He asked.

"500 septims." Master replied.

Captain nodded his head. "For a cheap bed, I suggest Fethis Alor. He's pretty much the man who has everything around here, and if he doesn't have it, he can get it. Since he is about the only convenience trader around, he might be pricey, though. But if you're just looking for anyone willing to part with some stuff for your new student, I'm sure anyone here will sell you their stuff for probably a smaller price. Might actually help some people in town who have too much stuff. Try the Severins. They have a large house and a girl that's just a little older than your student. They might be willing to part with some of their older stuff."

Master nodded to the captain and looked down at me. "We'll start with Fethis and see if he has all that we need." I nodded to him and followed Master as he walked over to an older Dunmer who was busy pulling an ash yam out of the ground. He brushed off the ash and then looked up at us.

Fethis nodded a welcome to us and stood up, brushing off his knees with his free hand. "Welcome, Lord Neloth. What can I for you?"\ Master repeated the list he had breathed out in one go to Captain Veleth. Fethis stood there processing the whole list while it was spoken to him. When Master was done with his list, Fethis rubbed his sweaty forehead. "I have the candles. With how often you come here, I always have them in stock. I have a dresser too, and one table. But a bed? No, I don't have that. I do have a mattress, though. Not the frame." He shook his head. "I have a mortar and a pestle around here, and a calcinator. No alembic, though. And I don't have a skull for the arcane enchanter, but I do have the crystal ball."

Master nodded. "I can make due with those. What about the large desk?"

He shook his head. "I don't have one."

Master nodded again. "We'll make due for now. She's not ready for complex notes anyway. Go ahead and order the rest of the stuff and I'll be back in a month to pick it up. I want the other table, the large desk, the alembic, the inner cauldron for the alchemy table, and a proper bed frame. Ok?"

Fethis nodded. "Ok, sir. Is that all you need?" When he nodded, Fethis started doing the math on a piece of paper. "Ten white candles, two gold a piece comes to 20 septims. One small dresser, 30 septims. That's 50 together. One coffee table, 20 septims. 70, so far. One mattress, 25 septims. 95 septims. Mortar and pestle, 5 septims. 100 septims. One calcinator, 10 septims, and one crystal ball, 10 septims. Ok, all total is 120 septims."

Master nodded. "That's what I like about you. Your prices are fair enough." He handed Fethis the small bag of septims and then looked down at me. He handed me the rest of the bag, saying, "Remember, this is _your_ allowance. You can spend the rest doing whatever you want. Even buy that mirror you wanted. You may wish to invest in some actual clothes. If I recall you came here with one pair of clothes and they're pajamas."

I looked down at my robes. "Master, don't I have to wear these?"

He arched an eyebrow. "Only during training, and if you never change your clothes those robes will stink to high Aetherius." He turned his attention to Fethis, who was busy gathering up his supplies. "Go have some fun and buy whatever you want. Come back here when you're done and we'll take all this back to the Tel Mithryn. Talvas, you may do whatever you want."

Talvas nodded to Master and then looked over at me. "Mind if come with you?"

I shrugged. I looked at Kyuu, who was napping on Master's neck. His ears perked up and then he looked over at me. He hopped off of Master's shoulders, landing on mine. He felt so light that it didn't bother me to have him up there. He settled down, wrapping around my neck, his head hanging down on my left shoulder and his tail flopping down over my right. "I'm just going to rest for a bit. I'm not used to the strain of staying out in Mundus for this long."

"I thought you were living off my energy!" I said to him.

He nodded. "You don't have much control over your energy so it fluctuates and I'm left filling the reserve when it does. I'm able to feed off of your excessive energy when you overcompensate too to refill my reserves. I'm ok; you're just not pushing nearly as hard as you were on the way down."

Talvas scratched his chin, something I saw Master do a lot. I wondered how long until I started scratching my chin like that when I started thinking. It looked weird and it wasn't a habit I wanted to get used to doing. So, I grabbed Talvas by his arm and started pulling him to follow me. "Come on, let's go shopping."

Fethis looked over at me. "Good luck. I'm pretty much the only merchant in town."

That caused me to pause and turn to face him. "Do you have girls' clothes and a mirror?"

Fethis paused and scratched the back of his head. "I do have a mirror, but no clothes, sorry. Just traditional Dunmer clothes. Much like what everyone else is wearing around town. They come in three colors; red, blue, and yellow."

"I'll take two of each?" I asked him.

He nodded and started looking me over. "You look like a size small, medium. But you'll start growing taller soon, so how about I give you one set of each color in small, medium, and one set in medium, long?"

I shrugged. "Sure."

He started processing my clothes and brought my mirror. It was one of those smaller mirrors that you put on your dresser, the one that could be rotated up and down to your height. When Fethis came back out with my clothes, he nodded. "Ok, so that will be 5 septims for the mirror, and six outfits, 10 septims a piece, 60 more septims. 65 altogether. Ok?"

I nodded and started counting out my septims. I pulled out a 50 piece, one 10, and one 5. I handed him the coins and he gently handed me the clothes. "There you go. I think you have pretty much all you need."

I looked at my clothes. I think I liked the blue outfit the most, and I was just plain sick of wearing red. The yellow looked bright, so I probably shouldn't wear it so much. Ok, so I was going to probably wear the blue one tonight. My stomach reminded me that I was hungry. I looked around for something else and I could see the marketplace had a farmer selling things. He had food. I placed my clothes down with the rest of the stuff we were taking and I ran over to the farmer. Talvas kept up behind me.

The farmer greeted me as I came up. "Welcome. May I interest you in some ash yams?"

My stomach turned over at the thought of eating another one of those. "No!" I said to him. "I'm sick of ash yams. What else do you have?"

He looked at me before looking at Talvas. He shrugged. "Well, I can only grow ash yams, but I do import goods from Morrowind and Skyrim. What are you looking for?"

"Bread, honey, apples, maybe a gallon of cider, or snowberries. Any seeds?" I asked him.

He smiled. "Planning on growing something?"

I nodded. "Yes. If you have snowberries, I want to plant them and grow my own snowberries. I doubt I have the time it would take or space to grow an apple tree."

The farmer nodded. "A mage like you could just as easily grow an apple tree in our land. So, I have a few apples, grapes, snowberries, and juniper berries. I'm sure you can grow your own little garden to give you something to add to your ash yams."

The very thought made me smile. "And I can come here and buy bread and honey?"

He nodded. "I will make certain to have some in stock for you when you come in."

I jumped with joy, saying, "Ok, I'll take a gallon of cider, six apples, a pound of grapes, a pound of snowberries, and a pound of juniper berries. Oh, and I want a gallon of honey, and two loafs of bread."

He stared at me for a second before nodding. "Ok. That's a lot of honey though."

I nodded. "Honey doesn't go bad; it's the only substance that never goes stale or rotten. Jars of honey found in Dwemer ruins were still good and edible. So, I know that getting a gallon of it will not lead to a waste of honey, only the opportunity to have it around for a much longer time. And I _love_ honey."

The farmer nodded. "Ok, I'm just going to snowball the price and say an even 60 septims. 20 septims for the honey, 30 for the grapes, apples, snowberries and juniper berries. And finally, 10 for the loaves of bread and the gallon of cider."

I pulled out the necessary funds for my food and turned to face Talvas. "Mind helping me carry all of this?"

He pulled off the backpack he carried for me and opened it up. "Ok, stuff it in. Start with the gallon of cider and honey. And then the berries and apples, and then the bread." We loaded up the food and the backpack could barely hold it all, but we got it all to fit but two apples. I took one and took a bite of it, tossing the other one to Talvas. He grabbed it as I tossed it to him, looked down at it, and then back up at me. "What's this for?"

"Helping. Besides, we're friends. I shouldn't need a reason to give you an apple." I said to him. I patted Kyuu on the head. "Hey, Kyuu. Ever have an apple before?"

He looked down at the red fruit in my hand. "No…what is it?"

"A fruit. It's a plant that we can eat and it sustains our life for a few hours. It's food." I said to him. I held it up for him to take a bite. "Try it."

Kyuu sniffed it for a second and then started nibbling on the apple. He started with smaller bites, but once I heard him squeak in surprise, he started shoving his face further into the apple until I couldn't see his head anymore. "Oh my Lady Kynareth…" He said screamed in wonder. "what have I been doing with my eternal life?" He jumped from my shoulder, landing on Talvas's backpack. "I want more! Can I have more?"

"Whoa!" Talvas called, spinning around to keep his eyes on Kyuu, which didn't work since Kyuu was digging through Talvas' backpack. "Take it easy, buddy!" He reached back to grab Kyuu. "That's all Veselle's!" When he grabbed Kyuu, Kyuu squirmed but couldn't break free of the hold.

Kyuu looked over at me, smiling and trying to look cute. "You don't mind, right, partner?"

I crossed my arms. "Let's wait until we get back. I want to at least plant a few for my garden. And I have to have Master show me how to use Alteration magic to force them to grow."

Talvas smiled. "Oh, I can show you that. Master keeps telling me that I need to be your mentor when not on official studies. So, after class tonight, I'll help you start your garden."

That brought a smile on my face. "Thanks, Talvas."

He smiled and wrapped his arm around me, pulling me with him. "Come on, we should return to Master Neloth. I bet he's more than ready to return to Tel Mithryn."

"We bought a lot of stuff….how are we going to get it back?" Talvas didn't answer me, but he did smile at the question. I didn't think about how much stuff I was buying, but it was true. I didn't think about just how much I bought today. I bought enough stuff to fill an entire room; enough clothes to last change an outfit every day; and enough food to last an entire month. Were the three of us going to be able to get all this back at all? Oh man…I can't carry all this stuff. If I had thought of that, I would have just bought some essentials and nothing else. The coffee table on its own will be heavy, not to mention my mattress.

When we got back to Master Neloth, he was waiting quietly with his hand crossed. He watched me as I approached. "Are we all set then?"

I nodded. "Yes, Master. We're done."

"Good." He replied. He gestured to the backpack. "Put it with the others."

Talvas nodded, placing the backpack with the giant bundle of all my stuff. I looked at all of it. Oh man…I didn't want to carry all this. I didn't even want to help with it at all. Just imagine the hike back to Tel Mithryn while helping Talvas carry a dresser, a table, and a mattress. I didn't even want to think about how much pain it would be to carry something light like my bundle of clothes.

Master Neloth looked at the stuff and warmed up what looked like Conjuration magicka. He launched an orb of the magicka at the pile and a giant portal ripped open. When the portal faded away, all my stuff was gone. Master Neloth clapped his hands off with the ease of what he had just done. "There." He looked at me. "Oh…I didn't explain how this works, did I? We gather everything up and then we teleport it back home. Saves us a hellish journey of having to carry our stuff like commoners." He snapped around, flapping his cape as he did so. "Come now, time to go home."

I held my laugh at the thought that I was so happy that I didn't have to carry all that stuff after all. And I had to learn that spell for later.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_So, Veselle now has most of what she needs for her room. Soon enough, she'll learn how to make her little room expand...or grow if you prefer that term...her little room into something bigger. Talvas hasn't figured it out yet so I doubt Veselle will. it's a master level Alteration spell after all. And she will begin growing her garden with Talvas's help of course. And you'll see that her storyline follows the quests of the ones in Dragonborn. She is the main character for these quest lines after all. So, expect her to meet a certain somebody soon enough. Not the evil Dragonborn, but one very evil necromage. And I'm not talking about Nrillia. She's dead in this timeline.  
_


	5. Fire Rune

**Cearbhail**:

___Finals are done, and I'm officially out for summer. Well, there is the summer class I'm spending in Japan in July at Shimane University, but that's still a ways away. I plan on doing a lot of writing this summer, so be prepared to see a lot of new chapters. For this story, the closing of Maleek's journey, and anything else I plan on fixing (Cecilie's meloncholy, Khajiit battlemage, and Genis's adventure, as well as a normal day for Presea) They are all getting fixed. I cannot wait to start in earnest.  
_

___Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
_

* * *

_Dear book of shadows, 28th Rain's Hand_

_It's been a while since I've written in you. I've just been busy with Master Neloth is all. As soon as we got back the night we went shopping, we started setting up my new room. Master was surprised when he found out I bought a bunch of fruit with the intention of making a garden. I think he was pleased by my initiative. Because he smiled and said that if I was going to start up a garden, I should plant some canis roots too, and if I helped raise the canis roots into a fine ingredient for his tea, that he'd help teach me how to make the crops grow faster with Alteration magic. I so took him up on the offer. It's been five days and I already have a nice little garden growing between my room and my training circle. Today I get to learn how to draw my own circles. He has several written volumes filled with different circles and which types of magic they need poured into them to make them work, as well as which crystals need to be the writing device._

_So, what I've been working on the past five days. Flames. Flames, flames, and more flames. I've been sitting inside my little protection circle for five days and Master has done nothing but make me cast flames at things he conjures. Sometimes he'll conjure up some sort of impish looking Daedra and tells me to fight it. Sometimes, he'll conjure up two or more creatures and tells me to practice team fighting with Kyuu. Kyuu has not been spared any training either. Master's been making him cast flames and warding spells just as much as he's made me. Oh yeah, I had to learn how to create Wards, as well as healing spells. Soon enough, Master will teach me Regeneration spells for when my clothes get torn up. It apparently fixes the cloths by reconnecting the severed part to each other. And when something gets burned, I guess it somehow creates new atoms that connect to the clothes and it just looks brand new. I don't really know the specifics yet because Master has yet to teach me it, but he said it involves something about realizing what they looked like in the past and then realizing it in the present. It's an Alteration thing, and Alteration magic is only limited to what the imagination can conjure, Master says._

_Veselle Tenvanni._

_…_

When I closed my book, I took a quick look around my room. It was just as big as when it started, but it looked so much smaller now. I had a mattress sitting on the floor, and with my roll out mat lying on top of it, it felt really comfortable. My dresser was behind me towards the end of the room. I had all six of my outfits inside it. I switched between the first set every two days. Pretty soon I'm going to have to wash them. Good thing the ocean is nearby. I've been thinking about making a small pond where I could do all my washing, but it would probably just fill up with ash or something.

On top of my dresser was my small mirror that I used to do my hair every morning. I was getting used to having twintails now, and it felt good to have the hair off my neck. I even found a comb inside the tower one day and since Master is bald, I doubt he'd miss it. Unless he uses it for his beard. It does seem really clean and upkept. Opposite of my bed was my little enchanting table. I had to set it up myself. Master told me what I needed to do, and he let me look at his arcane enchanter to do it. I had to create the star pattern and inside each portion of the star pattern inscribe the sigils for the different types of magic that were going to be used. And then I had to fill each sigil with grand soul gem strength magicka. Good thing I had a lot of reserves, because I was able to do it in two days. When each sigil glowed, I knew that part was done. When I got done with each sigil, the lines that made up the star pattern glowed as well, and I just felt this whole…shift in the air around the enchanter. I never knew just how much work went into making an arcane enchanter, but it was worth it. I knew a little more now, and I had the satisfaction of making my own enchanter. I still don't know what the candles are for, but they burn at each tip of the star, even though it's surrounded in a circle as well. They stay lit and they never seem to really burn the wick or the wax. They just…burn.

I rolled off my bed and onto my feet. I stretched my back, let out a small yawn, and started heading to the giant leather flap that consisted as my improvised door. I grabbed my little staff and opened up the flap. Sunlight was barely breaking across the coastline, which meant it was probably 5:30 in the morning. Time to go meet with Master Neloth. I opened up my link to Kyuu and created the portal spell that I was so used to performing that it was becoming second nature to me already. I released the spell and out came my little Kyuu. He leapt from the portal, landing on my shoulder. He curled up around it, and lied down across my neckline.

"Good morning, Veselle." He squeaked to me as a welcome. "Is the apple tree ready yet?"

"Almost." I replied to him. I walked outside with him, looking to the garden growing to the left of it. Growing outside my little round room was my little garden. Well, little is not the word. Substantial is better. I had about ten vines of grapes growing, and with the growing magic Master and Talvas taught me, they were growing quickly. Soon enough, they'd be ready to be eaten. Beside the grapes were the snowberries, as well as the juniper berries. To the very right of my garden were my Master's canis roots. They were already fully grown and had been used several times the past few days. Master grew them so quickly that I almost couldn't believe how fast they developed. It made me jealous that he only worked on his roots and then let me deal with my plants. But, practice is practice. At the back of the garden stood my little towering apple trees. They were just a little taller than me, but were already started to show the beginnings of apples growing. They really took to the Alteration magical growing process. Mostly because Talvas helped me with it. He wanted apples just as badly as Kyuu did. But, at least we got the plants to grow in the dirt underneath the ash. That was something to be proud of.

"Apprentice Veselle." Master called from behind me.

I spun to face him. "Yes, Master?"

He walked right past me and up to my garden. "Things are looking good here. More application to the apple trees and we should be having ripe apples in two or so days. Grapes should be ready by tomorrow, and your berries are already ripened." He looked over at me. "I would have started my own garden ages ago, but was merely too busy for the upkeep that the garden would require. It is lucky that you wish to have a garden with fresh fruit to eat. It really gives us more resources here. And…if you're really interested in having continuous honey, I am not above the idea of having a few beehives around. Honeycombs are valuable in alchemy, and honey is nice to have in canis root tea. To have our own honey farm…I would almost believe this place to be a Telvanni town soon enough. And it very well may become one, if I can find more Telvanni mages to move here." He shook his head at the idea. "I moved here to be away from all the commotion, but…it does feel nice to have company." He rubbed the top of my head. "Come now, Veselle. Time to protect your garden from netches and hoppers."

He lifted up one of his volumes of different types of circles. "I told you to read this book yesterday. Do you recall which type of circle you will need for your garden?"

I nodded. "I plan on doing three circle, much like my training circle."

"Oh? That's very ambitious of you, Veselle." He replied. "Which circles have you decided on? I cannot wait to hear this."

I grabbed the book from him and opened it up to chapter 6. "The Protection circle you used." I pointed to the specific circle. "It's the circle that you used to keep wild animals from coming inside and messing with me while I did my studies. Well, I found a similar circle for crops. It keeps all forms of destructive insects and animals out of the crops, but allows things like butterflies and honey bees. You know, stuff that helps plants grow. The second circle I want to use is another circle used to protect the plants from the elements, much like the other circle you used for me. Except this one will let things like the effects of sunlight inside so that the plants get their necessary sunlight to continue growing. And the third one is just an enhanced growing circle. It will help speed up the growth of the plants."

Master nodded at me, rubbing his chin. "You have seemed to have thought this through. What do you need to complete these circles of yours?"

"A Quartz wand…much like the one you use for the Circle of Protection. You see, I looked it up. All Restoration circles require to be drawn by magicka channeled through a quartz wand, and the Circle of Protection is a Restoration circle. So is the Circle of Enclosure. The Circle of Growth is an Alteration spell, so I need a wand made out of malachite to successfully write it."

Master nodded during the whole thing. "I brought both wands; I figured you'd use these three circles. I am pleased to see you choose the same three circles I would have used." He pulled out the two wands. "Now, I am interested in seeing you draw these circles. You understand what a circle is, but do you know how to create one?"

I shook my head. "The book gave me a simple explanation, but I didn't quite figure it out. Ok so…" I pulled out the volume he gave me. "I understand the whole… 'The concept of the circle is the basis that the circle encloses one implied will upon the ground, and is finished once one 'closes' the circle'." I looked up at him. "I do not know what…closing the circle means."

Master crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. He groaned before lowering himself to the ground. "And I was beginning to think that these petty lessons were pretty much over." He mumbled to himself before preparing to draw in the ash. "Do you understand the process behind drawing?"

I crossed my arms and arched one of my eyebrows at that. Was that a serious question, or did he think that I was so stupid that I really didn't know how to draw? "Of course I know how to draw. Any two year-old knows how to draw."

"I'll take that as a 'no' then." Master replied. I was about to yell at him before he continued. "Drawing in this sense is not the typical drawing in the sand. You must draw using your magicka. The magicka you use for your circle has to be in the same principle that your circle is in. If you're using a Restoration circle; not only must you use a quartz wand, but you must will you Restoration magicka to flow through the crystal and into the circle and the sigils that you draw. You will tell that it is working because the line you draw will cast a light hue of magicka and will remain for a few minutes. This is why we must close the circle. You must draw the whole thing before the magicka fades away. It takes about ten minutes for magicka to fade away from an unclosed circle. And to close a circle, all that means is that the outside circle is completely drawn and the magic stable. From there, you have an additional 20 minutes or so to draw your sigils. For a beginner like you, it may take almost all the time you have to draw it, also depending on size or contents of the circle too of course. Once you have all the sigils, all that remains is binding the circle, and I will go into that once you have finished your first completed drawing."

Ok…so…I had no idea what drawing really was. Huh…I didn't think it took this much effort just to draw a circle. I felt some anxiety forming inside of me. So, I closed my eyes and willed the anxiety to just fade away. After a few relaxing breathing exercises Talvas showed me, I stuck out my hand for the crystal wands. Master gladly handed the quartz wand to me and then I think I saw him smile. "Talvas does the same thing before he begins a real project. Am I to guess he's really taken to being your mentor then?"

I nodded. "He's helped me a lot these past few days." I said as I opened up the book and turned to chapter six. I got a good look at the sigils and brought the book inside the garden with me. The sigils had to be on the inside of the circle or else they could easily be destroyed outside it by anyone who knew how. That's the thing with circles. They protect what is inside based on what they need. So, the sigils always go inside the circle right underneath the line. I took a good look around my garden. I had a good idea about how big the circle would have to be. I had to be just big enough to protect all my plants, and big enough for me to fit all my sigils inside it. So I made the circle a foot away from where the plants would have finished growing out of. I sat down and focused on the crystal wand. Ok, this should be just like flowing my magicka through my hands into the heart stones to enchant my robes.

I focused on my magicka taking the form of healing, of Restoration. I felt the subtle churchy feeling magic in my body and I willed it to flow through the crystal wand and into the ash. And then I started drawing my circle. I felt my magicka flow through the circle and into the ash, where I could see a faint outline of where the magicka continued to lie in the ash. I was doing it! I was actually doing it! And so, I continued carefully drawing a circle in the ash. It took me a few minutes, but I had it done with plenty time to come to the end. And when I finished the circle and my magicka fused, I felt a solidifying pop. I knew that my circle had just closed. I can't believe it. I was actually doing this right!

I looked outside of my circle to see Master nodding to me. He tapped the watch on his wrist and I think it was a subtle clue that I was wasting time. So, I stood up and ran over to the book. I looked at the specific sigils and runes that I would have to write. They looked Aedric in design. Of course, all Restoration sigils and runes were Aedric in design, just like how all Destruction spells were Daedric in design. I started from the top of the page and started drawing the accompanying sigils; careful to make sure I drew the symbols correctly. It took me another six or so minutes, and afterwards, I was sweating pretty hard from exerting so much of my magicka to make it work. And when I was done with the sigils, I didn't feel anything really happen. I wondered if I did it right. I reread the page, but didn't see anything out of place. I guess there was no pop from this set.

Master looked into the circle and then looked at me. "Tick, tock, Apprentice. Time is running out. I count six minutes left. Are you going to stand there all day, or are you going to bind your circle?" I was about to say something, but he only held up his hand to silence me. "You're wasting breath. I know you don't know a thing about binding; I was simply making a point. Now, go to the center of your circle and prepare to connect with your circle." So, I stood up and stepped into the center of the circle. It was a crude circle and I'm positive it wasn't perfect. "Ok, now I want you to close your eyes and see the circle you have drawn. Feel the magicka flowing inside it." And I did so. I could 'see' the circle around me, and I could feel the magicka flowing inside it. "Now, visualize your intentions. You drew this circle to protect your plants, so confirm the circle's use and then will the sigils and the circle to be complete. You'll know it has worked when you feel the circle spin and the magicka connect to the actual spirit of Mundus. Just trust me on this."

And I did so. I visualized the circle around me and willed my intention into the very circle. I repeated in my mind that I wanted the circle to protect my plants from anything that would harm them, to keep enemies out of my garden, while allowing bees and other helpful insects into the circle. And after a minute or two of focusing on this, I felt the energy inside the circle spin around and then…I felt a pop and a small explosion from where I stood. It flowed across the whole circle in a flowing cyclone before slamming into the existing wall. The cyclone solidified there, still flowing around in a circle, but not leaving the circle. And that's when I opened my eyes and saw the outlines fade away. They glowed extra bright before they did so, and when they faded away, I could see the perfect ink that replaced my drawing. My imperfect circle was gone and replaced a perfect drawing of one, and my sigils looked like they came straight from the book too. I was so proud of my circle. And now, I knew nothing would come in and kill my plants. This was a victory all on its own.

I turned to look at Master, to see if he would give me any praise. He only nodded in acceptance. "For your first attempt, I congratulate you." He started to turn away. "Now, do the same for your other circles. I will not supervise this time. I think you understand it. Once you are done, you are free for the rest of the day. Tomorrow we'll work on more flames. Oh…there is one more thing I want to teach you tonight. And it very well may save your life."

I looked back at him. His eyes glowed for a second and I saw Destruction magic form in his hand. He launched it at the ground and I saw the Destruction magic solidify into a round circle with a rune inside it. "It's called the Fire Rune. It's the combination of Destruction magic circle and the flames spell. The concept is simple. There are two circles within the flames rune. The first circle is a Containment Circle. You know this circle well enough. It's the one that keeps your magicka from destroying my tower every night. And directly underneath that circle is the Activation Circle. When something crosses this circle, whatever it activates well…activate. Directly underneath that is a set of Explosion runes, which surround the flames sigil. When someone you perceive as an enemy crosses your Fire Rune, it explodes with Fire magicka, killing or at least maiming anything inside it. And you only have to draw it once. Once you draw it, it is burned into your mind like any other spell. Much like your Protection circle. If you think about it, you still know how to draw it. It's forever burned into your mind. I drew the circle that night to show you how it was done. I don't need to, and now you don't need to either. This Fire Rune is created the same way all circles are drawn. So, before the night is done, I want you to know how to draw this circle and then show it to me."

With that, Master turned around and headed for his tower. I watched him as he walked into his tower and then closed his door. I let out a held breath and then fell to my knees. I had no idea just how exhausting creating that one circle had been. I looked at Kyuu, who only watched me with wide cute eyes. "How are you doing?" I asked him.

He only smiled and wagged his nine tails. "I'm fine. You seem tired. Do you want to rest?"

I looked up at the just rising sun. I had all day to do this. But…I had a new book that I wanted to read. I started reading the shadow journals of the past. The one I was currently reading was about the Shadowwraith Nakuma. But there was a new series that had come out about a month ago. They were called the Chronicles Series. There were eight volumes to the series, and they pretty all told the same story, just a different point of view on it. They usually began with a journal entry and then explaining what had happened after that journal entry had written. In a way, the Chronicles series was a series of unenchanted shadow journals. I was currently reading volume one, the one written by the High King himself, Asger Stonearm. I hadn't gotten too far into the story yet, and he hasn't even gotten in Skyrim yet, so I don't know what's going to happen, but I wanted to find out. The sooner I was done here, the better off I was.

So, I walked up to the waiting Fire Rune. I looked it over, and I could actually see the Containment circle and the sigils underneath it. I mean, I've seen the circle that I trained in all week and I had gotten a good look at the sigils inside it. It was exactly the same. The circle underneath it looked different and then there were the six runes that surrounded the symbol for fire. So…if I stepped inside this…would it blow up? I don't know exactly if Master's rune would blow me up or not, so I decided to not go poking it with my staff. I pulled out my book of shadows and started copying the image of the Fire Rune inside it with my magical quill that never ran out of ink. After that was done, I walked over to my training circle and started inscribing the same image into the ground with my staff tip while focusing on my Destruction Flames magic.

It took a few minutes, but from what I remembered the spell was a lot smaller than my first circle. I finished by drawing the flames rune and I felt it pop into place instantly. Ok…I got it down, but how did I test it? I found myself smiling as I thought of the perfect test subject. I didn't waste any time as I ran up to Talvas's door and banged heavily on it. I promised him I wouldn't just barge into his room before sunrise, well…the sun technically was rising and I wasn't barging in.

I waited outside his door for a few seconds before I heard him groan. I knocked on his door again and waited for another few minutes. He finally fell out of his bed and groaned in pain. A minute later, I saw his door opening up. He stood droopy-eyed at the door, barely focusing on me. "What do you want, squirt?"

"Can I test something on you?" I asked him as sweetly as I could. "If you say no, I won't stop pestering you until you say yes."

He sighed as he walked outside. "And I don't doubt that you wouldn't. What is it you need testing?" I pointed to my training circle, which only made him sigh more. He groggily walked over to my training circle, and I followed behind him the entire way. I sure hoped it worked. Talvas stopped right before he broke the threshold of my confinement circle. He looked down at the single Fire Rune before looking over at me. "You've got to be kidding."

I smiled as big as I could and put on my cutest face. "I need to see if it works."

He rolled his eyes before pushing me outside my confinement circle. "Knowing you…I'll probably die when I do this. So…in case I don't make it through this, I think you're pretty cute. But I know you'll be the death of me someday." He patted me on the head and walked over to the Fire Rune. He took a few seconds to wrap himself up in as many armoring spells and placing healing circles and wards all around himself before stepping into the rune. As soon as his foot broke over the circle all I saw were a giant orange flash, a delayed response, and then nothing but blaring white that covered my entire circle of protection. It raced up fifty or so feet, the highest I've ever seen from my fire spells. Half a second after the blinding light almost cooked my eyes, I heard the large blast that could have deafened me. If it wasn't for the circle's protection, I was certain that there would have at least been a sonic boom that would have thrown me back, but even that was blocked by the circle.

The light and fire started dying down. As soon as all the smoke dissipated, I didn't even see Talvas inside the circle anymore. I looked around the circle for him, even up in the sky to see if some of his body parts were raining down. I didn't even see one trace of him. I was starting to get worried. Did I incinerate him? Oh no…Master would kill me if he knew I killed Talvas. And then Master would be all alone! And he would love that! I couldn't let Master have something nice, especially if it meant me dying. I crossed my arms and looked around for any sign of Talvas. I didn't see any. I was about to give up when I felt a hand clamp around my back shoulder. It was enough to make me jump and snap myself around. Talvas stood there, half of his robes burnt off his body from his waist up, and his hair party charred. His body seemed just fine…but then I started to feel my face flush as I noticed that he had perfect abs.

Talvas shook his head as he stared around dazed at the area. "Is…is this Aetherius? Are we dead?" He looked down at me and shook his head. "No…we're surrounded by ash…and _you're_ here. This has to be Oblivion."

I scoffed and crossed my arms at that comment. And to think I was worried for him. He just called me worthy of going to Oblivion. "Hey!" I yelled to him. "I didn't try to kill you."

He didn't even acknowledge me. He looked down at me and screamed, "What? I can't hear you. My gods…what is that loud ringing?" Oh no… was he deaf? This was all my fault. But…as least he was alive. That was good.

"We should take you to Master. He'll know what to do." I started pulling on Talvas's arm.

He rushed past me, pulling me instead. "I think I lost my hearing! We should talk to Master. I'm sure he can fix my ears!" He screamed to me as loudly as he could. I struggled to keep up with him and he continued to pull me as he sprinted for the tower. I thought he was going to rip my arm off. He rushed us into the tower, wrapped me up in my arms, and then we started floating quickly up the levitator. When we landed, Master was waiting for us. He had a few staffs in his hand and he had the look of war on his face.

He stopped when he saw us. He scanned Talvas's body and then looked at me. "What is going on out there? I heard something explode. Are we at war with someone?"

I shook my head, and was about to answer him, but Talvas screamed, "Master, I can't hear anything."

Then Master looked at me. Instead of scowling, he only nodded. "Ok, I think I understand now. You tested your fire rune on Talvas. And here you were just a few days ago, complaining to me about using you as a test subject for my enchanted heart stones, and here you are…almost killing your mentor." He pushed me away from Talvas and then examined his ears. "You blew out both of his eardrums. I should check your hearing as well."

"I can hear just fine." I said to him. "The circle absorbed the shockwave as well as the explosion."

Master nodded and then went back to examining Talvas. He looked from the ears over to Kyuu. "You, summon spirit. Come here at once."

Kyuu jumped off my shoulder and onto Master's outstretched arm. "My name is Kyuute!"

Master rolled his eyes. "And a fine name it is." He placed Kyuu on Talvas's shoulder. "Do you heal beam I saw you use on Veselle."

Kyuu nodded. His body started glowing with white magicka, his ears perked up, and his eyes glowed bright blue. A white light formed around Kyuu and Talvas. Now, I never got to see this from the outside, but what I saw was amazing. The burns and the blood on his body just…vanished slowly. And then, I could see the pieces of fabrics that were his robes regenerated on his body as well. The beam of healing continued slowly before there was nothing left to be replaced. The light faded away and Kyuu lied down on Talvas's shoulder. "Can I have an apple now?" He said when he looked over at me.

I nodded. "Sure, you can have an apple."

Talvas looked from Kyuu to me, then to Master. "Master, I can hear now."

Master Neloth nodded. "So it would seem." He looked over at me. "Apprentice Veselle. Next time you wish to test a spell, you test it on _me_. Understood?"

I nodded. "Yes, Master. I just didn't feel it was proper to test something like that on my instructor."

"Nonsense." He waved it off. "I'd rather you test your spells on me than Talvas. I'm old, experienced, and I can tell when a spell goes right or wrong. Talvas will do what he can, but remember he's an apprentice like yourself. He could have died; and then I would be left with just you. I'm trying to rebuild an entire lost lineage. If you kill us off…that will never happen." He grabbed me by the arm and then said, "Now…you're going to show me that spell, and I will judge for myself its accuracy."

I sighed as I looked over at Talvas. "Sorry."

He shrugged. "It's ok. I'm going back to bed."

Master dragged me outside, right back to my training circle. He tossed me into the circle and said, "You wrote it once, now summon your circle without physically drawing it. I want to see this."

I still didn't know what to do, but I visualized the rune in my head. I started building up the fire magicka in my hand. I aimed it for the ground and then let the magicka go. A small burst of fire blasted from my hand, and for a second, I thought I did it incorrectly. But then the flames spilt onto the ground, spinning around until the flames solidified into what looked like the fire rune spell that I wrote earlier. When the flames settled, I could see the red outlines of the actual spell. It worked? I actually did it? Holy crap, I never knew it was this easy. And it was a new spell I could use whenever I needed it. Just hopefully it wasn't needed any time soon. I've seen just how much it explodes.

Master grabbed me from behind and threw me out of the circle, with almost enough force to send me out of all three circles. He walked up to the fire rune, examining it. "Well, well. This is quite a special little rune you drew. So much power inside it." He didn't coat himself in any spells before he stepped over it. And just like before, the fire rune exploded into a ball of light. I closed my eyes and looked away before Master was consumed in fire. I waited there for a few seconds before looking back into the training circle. There was nothing but burning orange light with smoke flying further into the circle. When it faded away, all I could see was Master standing there, not even a thread of his robe out of place. He had his arms crossed, looking at me. "Not bad, Apprentice. Every powerful, sloppy though. And don't worry; I was able to protect myself. Any Telvanni master would be able to. With time you will be able to be a little more precise with this type of casting and then no one will be able to stop you."

He strolled out of the circle, looking at me. "So, Master. Was that ok, then?"

"As good as it could have been. Try not to make them explode quite so much next time. If you're too close, it will tear you apart too and everyone else on this island too." He stopped and pointed to my garden. "Now go finish your circles for your garden. And we'll continue your lessons tomorrow morning."

I looked up at the sky. The sun had finally finished rising into the sky. Jeez, not even 6:30 and I've already done a lot this morning.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_And now more time will start to fly by in the chapters. I might even do just random around the tower types of chapters where all she does is find ways to entertain herself. i mean, she is getting pretty capable of using magicka now and she'll cease to be the know-nothing apprentice soon enough. Well, at least until I have to start writing about alchemy, which isn't too far away, and then the whole ...you know actual storyline kicks in in the second arc. The first arc is about her learning how to control and develop her magic abilities. The second arc is about...well...the normal stuff you'd expect from my stories. it will be a fun time, I hope so.  
_


	6. Jester's Day!

**Cearbhail**:

___Ok, and we're back to this story. I was working on the Maleek's Journey for a while and I will be finishing it up next week and then move onto chronicles of Ruby. I can't wait to start that. But, I was going to continue the story with this chapter and advance the story, but when I went to check on my document that has all the Elder Scroll holidays and months on it...I found something out. The previous chapter was on a holiday, and it didn't seem right that I didn't express what the holiday was. So...that's what this chapter will be about. Jester's Day! yay! It's celebrated all over Tamriel, and to be honest, I love a good chapter about pranking. Ever read my Genis' Adventure to find Presea? It all started out as a giant prank...and then got really bloody and stuff later on. but anyway, this is a good chapter. and a surprise!  
_

___Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
_

* * *

_Dear book of Shadows,_

_It is still the 28th of Rain's Hand. I spent all morning finishing up my circles, but I'm not done yet today. Sure, sure, all my chores with magicka are done, but I'm not done yet. It's 28th Rain's Hand! You know what that means! Everyone knows what that means! It's Jester's Day, duh! And I, for one, am not going to sit around on my butt and do nothing about it. Of course, I already had some fun with Talvas today, but that was too easy. That was business. Now…what to do, what to do? Who to pick on? Master would be a good target, but how? He's old, experienced, and I'm sure he's survived several attempts on his humility before. Talvas would be easier, but what to get him with? What pranks are new and innovative? Hmm…I just can't decide._

_Veselle._

_…_

I couldn't figure out what to do today. Everyone deserved at least one prank on them today, but I didn't want to do anything bad…I didn't want everyone to hate me. Back in Riften this was a great celebratory day and everyone got their mischief on, and I'm guessing that doesn't happen much here, if not at all. It seemed like everyone had a stick up their butt and I wanted to change that a bit. So, here I was in my room trying to figure out what I could do. I should make it magicka related since I was supposed to be learning new ways to use magicka. So, I looked through several tomes of Alteration magic Master Neloth left me to study from. Alteration and Illusion were the major magics used for these days. I'm guessing Illusion would work best on Talvas; he's a bit lightheaded when it comes to Illusion. And Alteration magic for Master. Because I doubt he'd fall for Illusion spells.

So, I poured through the tomes of circles and spells for stuff I could find. And I found several Illusion spells that I thought were pretty funny if I casted them correctly. There was a light spell close to a firecracker. It was a distraction spell. If I casted that in front of Talvas it would disorient him. And to make it funnier, I could be invisible and take the pillow off his bed and bring it back to my room and hide it so he wouldn't be able to find it. I could just turn his entire room invisible to, so it would look like I stole everything. But…he'd come find me. And he'd have to leave his room. That's where a circle would come into play. There was an Illusion circle that when someone stepped on it they would be tricked into thinking they were teleported to an alternate realm of my creation. I just had to vividly picture where I wanted him to go. Riften…why not? Ohh…a beach. That's a lot better. With some Altmer women to pander him. That would be funny to watch. There, harmless and funny, and I still get to prank him. I don't know the specifics, but that Illusion spell with the Altmer servants involve the word dominatrix…whatever those were. I'm guessing it's a fancy word for maid. Oh well, I'm sure Talvas won't mind one bit.

Now that I had my prank for Talvas, I needed one for Master too. He really loved his canis root tea, so…what if I used Alteration magic to make it taste like skooma? That would be funny for me, but I'd probably be punished for it. Was it worth it? I couldn't get away with much with Master, but I'm guessing one prank on him wouldn't matter much. Oh well, I couldn't think of anything else that could even begin to work. So, I closed my book and went to the doorway to leave. I looked back at Kyuu and smiled. "Coming?"

"Where are we going?" He asked as he jumped onto my shoulders. He curled up and lied down. I was getting more used to the fact that he weighed less than a pound.

"We're pranking Talvas and Master." I said as I opened the door.

"Why?" Kyuu asked.

"Because it's Jester's Day, Kyuu. It's the one day the entire year where I can prank everyone in this tower and not get in serious trouble for it." I petted Kyuu on his head as we walked outside. And as soon as I stepped outside my door, I heard the hum of a spell. I looked down to see that I had walked into a circle drawn by my doorway. I didn't have time to react before I felt water crashing down over my head, like someone had dropped a bucket on top of me. Kyuu cried out in alarm as we were pelted with water. The water spell died off pretty quickly, but that didn't change the fact that I was soaked now. And pissed… Only Talvas would do something like this. And he didn't even wait around to see it go off and laugh like I would. This calls for revenge.

"What was that?" Kyuu asked as he stretched up, shaking the water off of him.

"A prank." I replied as I looked down where the water rune was sitting not even two seconds ago. I wished I could have examined that spell and jotted it down in my journal before it activated. I would have put that under Talvas's bed and set an automatic timer to go off three seconds before midnight…for my revenge. I looked over at Kyuu. "That's the type of stuff that we do to each other on a day like this. I just…I didn't expect anyone here to participate in it." Darn it. That meant that Talvas was probably ready for me then. This made it more rewarding to have my prank to go off successfully then.

"Jump off for a second." I waited for Kyuu to jump off before I took a warming breath. I willed fire magicka to surge through me and I summoned a ring of fire around me, just warm enough and long enough to dry me and my clothes. When I finished, Kyuu jumped back onto my shoulder and set himself back down. "Ok…this means war." I said to Kyuu as I ran over to Talvas's room. I snuck up to his doorway and pressed my ear to it. I could hear him reciting spell incantations to himself by his desk. Good, he wasn't waiting for me then. I opened up my book of circles and looked for any under Illusion. I found the Illusion base circle, as well as the locational beach spell. There were some runes for the Altmer dominatrix maids, so I added that to the circle as well. Once I had that all written down, I felt the pop of confirmation and visualized exactly what I wanted from the spell.

Ok, so here was the theory. Destruction circles are pretty simple. They go boom…or splash…as you saw with me earlier getting dumped on. That actually seemed more like an Alteration circle, summoning water above my head could just as easily be Alteration, especially since it didn't hurt. I didn't get to see it well enough. But anyway, Destruction circles pretty much go boom…so there isn't much need to visualize what you need of it. It activates and anything that activates it goes boom with the circle. Illusion circles are different, though. You need intention and visualization for the illusion you want to cast. Much like the Restoration circles with the intention of what can get in and what can't get in. That sort of stuff. So, for this Illusion circle, I had to create the illusion I wanted Talvas to see when he entered. Of course the maid component was already drawn in, I didn't have to create them; they were drawn in. Once I had the place thought up, the circle spun and then I felt another pop which confirmed that the rune was now complete. And I set it to go off only for Talvas, no one else.

I opened my book for the two other spells I could be working on. The Invisibility spell and the Firecracker spell. I quickly read over them and hoped it all went according to plan. I preset the spells in my staff…something else I had been researching today for this. All I had to do was release the Firecracker spell and then release the built spell in my staff into Talvas's room. It would take care of the rest. And when Talvas chased me out of his room to find me for taking his stuff, he would step into this circle and get lost in my wonderland. And I'd draw that Alteration water circle under his bed. Perfect, just perfect.

So, I didn't waste any time as I pushed Talvas's door open. He looked surprised to see me rushing into his room. "Veselle! What are…"

"Blind!" I screamed as I stuck my hand out. The Firecracker spell popped up in front of him, popping several bright flashes in front of his eyes. He screamed out in surprise as he grabbed his eyes.

"Oh…you little brat!" He cried out as he reached around for me. "Why did you do that?"

"Like you don't know!" I said to him. And I silently released my built-up staff magic and watched as all the stuff in his room simply vanished as I turned everything invisible. "And I teleported all your stuff to Raven Rock! That's for the water rune outside my door!" I slammed his door behind me and ran back towards my room. I paused by my door waiting for him to come out. And he did. He slammed his door open and charged out.

"I don't know…" was all he could say before he activated my trap circle. And when he did, his eyes glazed over. "What?" He called out to nothing. "How did I get here?" I didn't bother answering him. He wouldn't be able to hear me. All his senses now belonged to this Illusion. The spell was designed to wear off in an hour, so he had an hour to be pampered by pretty Altmer girls. I didn't wait to watch him have fun. Instead I carefully walked past him into his room. He was stuck inside the circle I had drawn, and it would hold him there for an hour. He was lost in his mind. "Oh…hey girls." I heard him say as flirty as he could. I rolled my eyes as I opened my book and started looking for that circle. I found it under Alteration circles. Yeah, it's exactly what I thought it was. It was a trick circle. Designed specifically for this holiday, to play pranks on others. There was another one that summoned a pie in front of someone's face. It was actually teleported from a teleportation circle and activated right in front of someone. Hmm…that was an interesting one. I should learn those two someday. I was learning new ways to love learning magicka.

But I felt for Talvas's bed and lowered myself underneath it. I started drawing my circle for the water rune and I finished it pretty quickly. I made certain to put a delay on it so that it went off three seconds before midnight. As soon as I finished drawing it, I cast an Invisibility spell over top of it so that it vanished just like the bed did. I began to pull myself out of his bed, when I heard Talvas say, "Safe word? You never told me you needed one. Why? Why do I need one? What's the whip for?"

I looked over at him and his face started to cringe. What type of sick fantasy was he having over there? Man…he's pretty perverted, turning my innocent spell into a perverted fantasy. Fine…I'll just leave him there for a few minutes while I go find Master. I rushed past him as he started crying out in pain. Jeez…did I mess up some of the spell? There was no way he was doing this to himself. So, I decided to let him off the hook. I reached down and broke the circle. And just like that Talvas's eyes unglazed over. He stood still for a few seconds before he looked down me. "What did you do to me?"

I smiled as I shrugged. "An Illusion spell to have you pampered by Altmer servants."

"They weren't servants, Veselle. Those were dominatrices."

I nodded. "Yeah, those. That's just a fancy word for maid, right?"

He shook his head. "I'm not even going to begin to explain what they are to a child like you." He looked from me over to his room. He sighed and looked over at me. "What did you do?" He crossed his arms and walked back into his room. "Where is all my stuff?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I teleported them somewhere. Not sure where, but the intention was Raven Rock."

He growled as he looked back at me. "And to think, I thought we were getting along. Why are you doing this to me?"

"It's Jester's Day, moron!" I screamed to him. "You should know; you already dumped a water rune on me!"

"What…no I didn't!" He replied. He walked back into his room and I heard him stub his toe on his invisible desk. "Shab!" He cried out, grabbing his toe and jumping up and down. When he had that handled, he reached for his desk and rubbed his hand over it. "Wait a second…you used an Invisibility spell on my room…didn't you?"

I shrugged. "It's Jester's Day not 'be a jerk' day." I turned around and started to leave. "And I thought I'd have some fun with you and spread the love of pranking. Heck, with that water rune, I thought you'd have been ready for me." And right as I walked away from his room, I felt another spike of energy underneath me. I looked down to see that the same blue rune from before was directly underneath me. And I didn't have enough time to jump back before I felt another wave of water crash down on top of me. There was more this time, and it lasted longer. I heard Talvas laughing as I turned around, my hair plastered to my forehead. "That's just rude, Talvas. I was already soaked before I got here."

Kyuu jumped off my shoulders, shaking himself off. "Really!" He turned to face Talvas. "I hate baths!"

He shook his head. "It wasn't me, Veselle." He walked back into his room. "But, you should go see Master. I'm sure he's waiting for whatever prank you have lined up for him. He loves this holiday." He closed the door behind him. "Now, leave me alone. I have to get my defenses so whatever Master has lined up for me tonight won't go off." Tonight? Ah man…so much for my water rune.

"Apprentice Veselle, get up here!" I heard Master's voice call from the tower. Oh great…I think I know who's been pranking me. I took a second to let my fire magicka dry me off partially before I started walking over to the tower. I paused before I actually left Talvas's steps.

I looked at Kyuu. "Can you detect hidden circles of magicka?"

His ears perked up. "You mean like bumpity bumpity magic? Or like whoosh whoosh magic?"

I started moving my plastered hair away from my eyes as I looked over at him. "What? I…I don't even know what those mean."

He sighed as he jumped up onto my shoulders. "You know…remember vroom vroom magic?" He shrugged as he lied down. "Well, whoosh whoosh magic is really quick and nearly invisible. And bumpity bumpity magic is really rough and explosive. Or…is that boom boom magic?" His ears drooped. "Now I got myself confused. Thanks a lot, Veselle!" He whined at me as he lied his head down. "But…if we're talking about just feeling the pulse of magicka…or the scent…I think I can detect any invisible circles."

I nodded to him. "Good, because I think I found my rival for Jester's Day. And I think it's Master Neloth."

Kyuu looked up at me, his blue eyes filled with so much wonder that I thought he was going to squeal. "What exactly is this holiday? You mentioned it before, but why?"

"It's Jester's Day." I said as I carefully started walking up to Master's tower. "It's the one day out of the year where we prank each other."

"But why?"

"Because it's fun." I looked over at Kyuu. "You saw how much fun I had setting up those circles to capture Talvas."

"But he looked like he wasn't having much fun." Kyuu replied.

I shrugged. "True, but then again, I wasn't having much fun when a giant wave of water crashed down on top of me. And I'm certain the walk up Master's tower won't be any more fun than that. But…it's a world-wide event. Everyone everywhere is doing something for this day of prankery, and we're no different, I guess. It's really just a day to relax and have fun, while harmlessly pranking people you love and hate either for fun, or legitimate revenge. Much like with Talvas. I got both in."

I walked up to the ramp and took a quick look at the door. I took one step and hear, "Stop!" Kyuu screamed, and I did so. "I can feel a circle set up." He jumped off my shoulder, landing on the hand railing. "In fact, I can smell more than just one set up. They're all different too." He looked at me. "I don't know what they do, though."

"Can we get past them?" I asked Kyuu.

He shrugged. "I have no clue." That made me tap my chin for a few seconds before a candle lit over my head. "Oh? What was that Master?" I screamed as loudly as I could. "You wish for me to bring Talvas with me? Ok! I'll go get him!" I said as cheerfully as I could as I ran away from the ramp over to Talvas's room. When I knocked, he answered the door, already sighing as he walked out.

"I heard you from my door. Master wishes to see me?" Talvas asked as he stepped outside. When I nodded, he groaned but started walking over to the tower. I followed right behind him. And just like I planned he started walking up the tower, and one by one, all the runes appeared and went off. All at once…it was really remarkable. There were some Firecrackers going off, pies materializing from summoning circles, and a horde of Daedric fairies that did some sort of tickling magic on Talvas for a few minutes. And I watched from the sidelines as Talvas took all of it. By the time the runes wore off, he was lying next to me, breathless and covered in various assortments of pies made from whatever vegetables we had. He looked up at me, eyes wide. "You…you planned that, didn't you?"

I nodded. "Thanks!" I said as I walked past him. I stopped by the door and looked back at him. "You really are a great friend!"

Talvas just sat up, smiling at me as he chuckled. "You're so evil…wrapped in a cute package. I have to be more careful."

When I pulled on the door a strong buzz of magicka surged through me. It was enough to make me jump and squeal in surprise. Talvas chuckled harder from below the stairs. I turned to look at him. "That was pretty good; I'll give him that one." I said as I grabbed the door. The shock spell had worn off and I pulled the door open, stepping to the side as another pie materialized. It flew past me, landing somewhere on the ramp. I waited for a few seconds before I looked into the doorway. I looked back at Kyuu, who waited behind me on the hand rail. "See the appeal yet?"

He tilted his head to the side before saying, "Not sure I understand. This is fun?"

"Kind of." I replied. "Being on edge, sure that something is waiting to get you, to embarrass you somehow…yes. All year long it would get annoying, but for one day of the year, it's a great time."

"Ah…so a break from reality." Kyuu announced as he jumped onto my shoulder. "Ok, partner. I'm with you the rest of the way. Let's face whatever happens together."

I nodded to Kyuu and looked up the levitator. "Sense anything in the tunnel?"

He shook his head. "Nothing. No circles at all."

"Good." I replied and stepped into the tunnel. The levitator picked me up and started taking me up the tunnel. About halfway there it stopped. And I thought to myself…crap, I'm stuck here, and I know something was going to happen. Kyuu looked around frantically as well. "Kyuu…a ward please?" And just like that, he threw his ears up and his eyes glowed as a giant round ward encased us. And just like before, a horde of fairies appeared out of the walls, sprinkling some type of dust around the ward. The dust failed to reach us and the fairies vanished into the round tunnel wall. And then the tunnel started pulling us up the rest of the way, finishing with landing on a white rune. It exploded into a white powder underneath us. The ward continued to protect us as it exploded, though. Ha! We're just too good today. Good luck with whatever you have planned, Master. During this day of the year, I'm unbeatable.

Master waited for me by his table. When he saw that I was unaffected by his barrage of pies and fairies, he only smirked. "Well, well, Apprentice Veselle. Escape my justice?"

I smirked and crossed my arms. "Talvas took it for me."

Master almost smiled and I thought I heard the beginning of a laugh. "Well done, Apprentice. It's nice to see someone so reliable and cunning for once. Talvas really is a joke when it comes to the finer points of Jester's Day. House Telvanni worships the day as the one time a year we really get to work on our creativity with Alteration and Illusion magic, as I'm sure you are aware by now." He looked at me. "Did you get hit with anything at all?"

I gestured to my puffy, frizzy hair. "Your water runes got me."

"That wasn't me." Master replied. "I specialize in using my bound fairies to sprinkle itching dust on my victims, as well as teleporting pies."

"Talvas lied to me then." I said as I looked at Kyuu. "He really did throw water runes at me."

"It could be my daughter, Brelyna." Master replied. "She is back in her room. And she always loved water runes."

"What? When did she get here?" I asked him.

"Late last night." Master replied. "It's true. She came to visit the night I wiped my memory due to the embarrassing nature of that particular evening involving whatever it was that you did. She visited and wrote me a note telling me she'd come back home after her current mission of taking the Princess of Skyrim back home was completed. And she just got back from her mission. She'll be staying for a while. You might even learn something from her. She lives right next door to you, in the taller mushroom."

"So, you were the one that sprung all my traps." I heard a light voice call from behind me. It sounded like the voice belonged to a librarian, so quiet and precise. Standing behind me was a beautiful Dunmer woman, who was dressed like one of the College mages, wearing the grayish blue robes that most mages wore. She walked up to me and stuck out her hand. "I didn't get to introduce myself last time I was here. I'm Brelyna Maryon. Nice to meet you." I shook her hand and she looked over at Master. She bowed, saying, "Afternoon, father."

He bowed in return. "Welcome home, daughter." He walked back to his table and just like that, I heard an activation. The blue rune appeared below Master and I heard him sigh as a giant river of water appeared over his head, crashing down on top of him. He sighed as he turned around. "Very well…" And with a snap of his fingers a pie flew towards Brelyna. Brelyna dodged the pie by deflecting it. And…it flew right into my face. I didn't even see it coming, really. Kyuu cried out in alarm as he fell from my shoulders.

I pulled the pie from my face, wiping the cream out of my eyes before opening them. "Ok…I've been pied. That's enough for one day." I said to them.

"I can wash that off if you like." Brelyna chuckled to me and I shook my head to that. "Ok, fine. That was my last trick then." She tossed me a towel to clean the pie off with.

I wiped the pie off me while Brelyna and her father started chatting about the stuff that she did while she was in Skyrim. I heard about the Dragon Crisis through the Chronicles of the Dragonborn series, and I knew Brelyna was deeply involved in what happened. But…to see her in person was even better. And as an added bonus, those two I ran into in Riften: Ruby and Maleek…I found out they were major players in the crisis as well. And I almost got to meet them before they were famous. Too bad I had to run away and nearly get killed by Thalmor while they fought Mehrunes Maven.

I looked back at Kyuu, who was busy cleaning all the cream from the pie off him. "Are you ok?" I asked him as I helped brush whatever cream remained off him with the towel.

"I'm glad it's over." Kyuu replied between licks of his fur. "You try cleaning nine tails. It's not easy!"

"Aww." I heard Brelyna say from behind me. She was looking right down at Kyuu. "He's so…cuute!"

Kyuu smiled. "That's my name, don't wear it out!" He replied happily as he craned his head out to be petted.

"What is he?" Brelyna asked as she folded her legs down into a seiza position, sitting next to me. She started rubbing his chin, which made Kyuu purr out in bliss.

"He's an Aedric fox spirit. He is called a kyuubi, and he has nine tails. But that's all I really know about him. He's my bound spiritual ally but I don't know much about what he is." I looked at Brelyna to see if she had any ideas as to what he was.

She looked from me over to Master Neloth. "Dad? Do you have any clue?"

He shrugged. "I've dealt with Daedra, but on the principle that I don't recognize the Aedric gods as my masters…I haven't the slightest of clue about their pets."

Kyuu looked from me over to Brelyna. "I'm a servant of Kynareth. I live in the Garden of Kyn with all the other elemental animal spirits, as well as fairies and angels." He smiled. "I'm one of the special spirits that can use all forms of magic…when my caster grows stronger at least. I'm able to unlock newer abilities as I grow stronger off of my contract holder. Of course…the stronger I get, the stronger someone has to be to summon me in the future. It makes me sad that someday my caster will become so strong that I will never be able to hold a contract with someone weaker like Veselle is now." He looked from Brelyna over to me. "And my form may start to change as I develop too. Soon enough, with Veselle's development I will grow big enough to ride on." He smiled. "I was hoping I'd get to stay small and cute, but I'm little help to Veselle as I am now."

I reached down and petted Kyuu's ears. "You'll always be cute…no matter how much you change." Was he really going to change that much? I never thought of it before. What happened if I grew so powerful that no one could ever summon him again? Oh no…I didn't want that to happen. Kyuu deserved the right to be contracted to whoever he wanted to be contracted to. "Is that really true?" I looked up at Master Neloth. "If he grows stronger…will no one be able to summon him?"

Master nodded. "Remember what I said about the Vermeister you summoned? It would take three full-fledged summoners to bring such a thing into our realm, and it needs our magicka reserves to comprise its material body. The more magicka it requires to build the body…the harder it is for apprentices to summon new allies. That's why it takes a while before you're able to summon stronger atronachs, such as frost or shock. It takes more magicka to build their bodies than the lesser one…the flame atronach. However…" He looked down at Kyuu. "As he grows stronger, he'll be able to summon himself if he is bound to someone. And if he's willing to become weaker again, to lose what powers he has in Aetherius, he may come back as what he is now. That would be temporary, though. Until whoever summons him grows stronger and more capable. Isn't that right…demon fox?"

Kyuu waged his tails. "I haven't the slightest of clues as to what you're talking about." He squeaked happily. "But I'm glad you told me I can continue to come back as this cute form even after I've already obtained near limitless potential due to my previous master becoming near god-like." He looked over at me. "I look forward to growing off of you, Lady Veselle."

Master Neloth continued to glare down at Kyuu before standing up. "Do not think I don't know what you are, demon."

Kyuu blinked. "I have no idea what you're talking about." He replied, and I was starting to get worried. Was there something about Kyuu that I needed to know about? I looked at Master for a clue, but he only smirked and walked away. And the way he did so…it scared me. What was going on?

Master looked back at me. "That is all for today, Apprentice. You may go about your business." Ok…this was getting weirder and weirder.

I looked down at Kyuu, who just sat there, staring up at me with his wide blue eyes. "I love you, Lady Veselle." Ok…I don't know why, but that scared me. Was this all a prank that the two of them set up? Kyuu curled up in my lap. "I'm taking a nap now. Wake me up if you need me."

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_Did anyone get the surprise? It wasn't that Brelyna is in the story... it's that Kyuu may be an evil spirit fox feeding off of Veselle's energy so that he can obtain his original destructive form and rampage all over Tamriel and kill everyone. Now.. I said 'may be' It's not a definite yet, but it is a possibility. I don't know where i sit on that right now. I like the idea of a cute little fox becoming stronger, but the whole evil giant fox with nine tails seems pretty cool too. And it would only add to that Madoka Magica think I had going on with that chapter when I created Kyuu. Well anyway, maybe someone will help me decide on that later on. See you next time!  
_


	7. Damphall Mine

**Cearbhail**:

___Well, well. When I first started this chapter...I had some real gripes about it, but I'll explain it at the bottom so I don't spoil something.  
_

___Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
_

* * *

_Dear book of shadows,_

_It's the 12th of Second Seed. Things have really been going around in circles these past two weeks. I wake up, I train with flames, I chat with Brelyna, I learn some new type of magic, and then I have the rest of the day off. I usually spend it tending to my garden. Our cook has gotten into the habit of taking the ripened vegetables and using them in his dishes. So…eating has become a lot easier for me now. It's no longer just ash yams…now it's fresh salads, smoothies…you know, good stuff. And we had time to go pick up the rest of the stuff for my room. I have an alchemy table now, as well as a bed-frame. And we managed to collect an older beehive. We got some bees for the hive, and we're waiting for the honey to collect. And it seems that Brelyna has become my mentor now, so that Talvas can focus on his own studies. Master is continuing his own research on heart stones, but far from anything else, it's just become everyday stuff now. It's nice to sit back and just learn stuff, you know?_

_I wonder how long it will last though. It feels like a calm before the storm, and I would know what that's like. It seems like whenever something in this place is this calm something bad usually happens. I just don't know what it is yet._

_Veselle_

_…_

My morning exercises went about as well as they usually did. I woke up, I practiced my flames, and Master forced me to put on unenchanted robes and stood me out in my circle. He dragged himself and Talvas inside with Brelyna watching over me, telling me to see if I'd burn through my clothes. You know how nervous I was? Master explained it to me very thoroughly that I had to accept that the clothes were part of who I was so that my flames wouldn't burn them just like how they didn't burn my hair or my skin. So, I asked Brelyna to turn around while I took the necklace off my neck. I thought of just how embarrassing it would be if this failed and I was suddenly engulfed in flames. And it stayed like that for a few minutes. And the more I thought about it, the more intense the flames grew. And finally, the flames died down and opened my eyes. I looked down to see that my robes were just fine. I could to it! I could finally control the burning nature of my flames. And now that I could keep them from burning my clothes, I could control it to where it wouldn't burn down Master's tower either. That was good.

"I did it!" I screamed to Brelyna. She turned around and scanned me. She nodded and went off to tell Master that it was ok to come back outside. I stood in my little circle while she left to go get him. And I felt so…exposed outside that I didn't really feel that safe. "Kyuu?" I called out for my familiar.

He came bounding from my room through his little doggie door. "Yes, Veselle?" He called as he jogged up to me, stopping short of coming into my circle.

That drew my eyes. He…he never jumped into my circle. And that circle was meant to keep out all the dangerous stuff that wanted to kill me. And I remembered what Master said about Kyuu, and how he knew what he really was. "Aren't you coming in?"

He tilted his head to the side. "Do I have your permission?" His eyes sparkled at the question. And…that felt like it could have been a trap question. Bad things can come inside circles if they're invited. And every time he's been inside the circle, it was because Master told him to go inside. He had Master's permission, but not mine. I never thought of it like that. Keeping that permission from him might very well save my life one day.

Kyuu wasn't the cute little thing he was when I first made a contract with him. He was still the same size, and he had the same cute face and body, but now he had fangs and more magicka capabilities. When I started learning Illusion spells, he learned a Charm spell. When I started learning Alteration, he learned Telekinesis. He was growing stronger already. And…I know I shouldn't be scared of him…he was my bound familiar but…it's just what Master said. His control of flames was now stronger too. He could roar like a dragon and just cover things in fire. He was growing into a stronger ally, but it was still the fact that one day he might try to hurt me. Maybe. I don't know!

I was about to answer him with a 'yes' when I heard someone coming from the pathway. "Good morning, Veselle!" I heard Captain Veleth say as he strolled up the road.

I snapped my head around to see Captain Veleth coming up the road. "Good morning, Captain." I bowed respectfully to him. "What brings you here today?"

"I need your Master's help." Captain replied from outside the circle. "A farm outside Raven Rock was raided by reavers. We don't know what happened to the family or where the reavers went. I was hoping I could use your master to help locate the family."

I was about to answer him as well, but Master Neloth had just come outside the building. "Congratulation on not destroying your robes, Apprentice." Neloth cried out to me. And that embarrassed me enough to where a giant wave of fire exploded all around me. I prayed I didn't destroy my robes. I was happy to see that they were still there and untouched. Phew…I don't think I could live it down if everyone saw me like that twice. More fire roared out of me and I took a few deep breaths to calm my nerves. Neloth looked from me with a smirk on his face over to Captain Veleth. "Welcome to Tel Mithryn, Captain. What can I trouble you for? Here for a cup of sugar?"

Captain looked around, nodding. "I like what you've done with the place. It's really starting to look like a small town."

Neloth crossed his arms. "It's not completely by design, but I understand that growth is inevitable. I am the last of the great Telvanni Lords. It is my mission to rebuild our House to its former glory. Might as well make a town as great as Tel Mora." He looked around. "If you encounter anyone who wishes to join House Telvanni, send them down here. I will see to making this a town."

Veleth chuckled. "In Redoran territory?" He shook his head. "I think I can allow it." He patted Neloth on the shoulder. "My reason for visiting is a request. A farm outside Raven Rock was sacked by reavers. We didn't see any bodies. We don't know what happened to the family; the ash storm covered the tracks leaving the house. I was hoping you could locate them for me and then we could go get them back. It's the Vedes family."

Neloth nodded. "Indeed, this is a task suitable to my talents." He muttered as he walked out into the sand away from the tower. He powered up a spell in his hands and released it. Four circles formed around his feet. They were just big enough to fit him. He raised his hands and the circles started glowing. Magicka started spinning in the circle. "I call upon the powers of the sun, the moons, and the stars. Vedes family, reveal your location!" The magicka whirled for a few seconds before there was a giant flash and Neloth snapped his eyes open, glowing red like a Daedra. "They still live." His voice sounded deeper, fouler. "Damphall Mine is where they stay."

Veleth nodded. "That's not too far from Raven Rock. I will go with some guards and free them."

Master shook his head. "Nonsense. The Redoran guard is needed to protect the city from the ash spawn. Reavers have no reason for prisoners. This might be a plot by whoever's been sending ash spawn to attack the town. The attacks been getting worse, it seems." He scratched his chin. Then he looked at me. "This would be an opportunity to send the girl to do it." He looked at Talvas and then at me. "Talvas, Veselle. Go to Damphall Mine and free the family." I looked at Talvas, and he winked at me in a reassuring way. Ok…as long as Talvas was sure that we'd be fine. Master seemed to notice it as well. "Apprentice…you've come a far way, have you not? Do you feel that you are incapable of stopping an enemy that is charging into you?"

I shook my head. No…I was pretty certain that I could keep someone from getting close to me. I did have some basic understand of martial arts, and I have my staff. I sure know enough tricks to keep some bandits away from me. Flames…Telekinesis…my runes, marital arts. Yeah…I'm pretty resourceful already. I wish I knew more healing magic though. I looked down at Kyuu…who smiled up at me, wagging his nine tails like they were one giant tail. Well…he could heal me if he needed to.

Master looked back at me, placing a hand on my shoulder. "There is…one more thing I think I should teach you before you leave. Get in the circle." And so I walked into the circle. Master followed me inside. "Flames may hurt your opponent, but it may not be enough to stop them. There is a spell built off of flames that will stagger your foe, maybe put a hole in them too. And then there is a much stronger flames spell that will cause explosion damage. It will also stagger your foes…but you may accidentally hit your friends as well. Today I will teach you Firebolt, an apprentice level flames spell." He gathered the fire magicka in his hand. "You summon your fire into your palm and will it to take the form of a ball. And then…" He launched it at my feet. A ball of fire flew off his hand, slamming into the ground, lightly exploding on impact. "It's a simple spell and it has some kick to it. You can launch it with one hand, or if you really want to do damage…" He cupped his hands in front of him. I saw the fire pouring from his palms into a ball in the center. "You put two hands together to form a stronger spell. This one has the potential to stagger your foes. It has the impact of getting hit with a cannonball." He launched it from both hands and it roared from his palms, slamming in front of my feet. I felt the ground underneath me shudder at the impact.

I nodded. I brought my hand together. So…it would be like forming a flame rune then. I just gather the fire magicka into my palm and visualize a fireball. And when I felt the pressure build in my hand, I launched it at my Master's feet. A massive ball almost the size of me launched from my hand throwing me back. When it slammed into the ground it exploded with a massive blast. It threw me back off my feet. Master grunted as the fire in front of him suddenly split apart. With one wave of his hand, my fire died away.

He nodded. "Ok…for safety measures of everyone inside the cave…including the family we're trying to _rescue_…don't use two hands. The one you just did alone will be capable of scaring away an entire army of reavers." He sighed as he walked out of the circle. "Remind me to teach you how to _control_ how much magicka you use sometime. No need to kill anyone here." He walked next to Veleth and grabbed him by the arm. "We will be waiting for you in Raven Rock. Don't dawdle."

Veleth looked at Master, nudging him. "Boy, she is a scary one."

"Just don't embarrass her or she only gets stronger." Master replied.

Brelyna sighed as she patted me on the back. "Don't worry…he made me do things like this too. It really will help you become a better mage…if you decide to come back. I didn't." Thanks…that was helpful.

I looked at Talvas and then at Kyuu. "Should we go then?"

He nodded. "Might as well. Grab your staff." He said as he ran into his room. He came out a second later with two staffs. Why two? Kyuu took off for my room, and a few seconds later, he ran out of the doggie door dragging my staff with his teeth. He struggled for a few seconds trying to weasel the staff through the doorway. He finally got it through and bounded up to me.

"I brought your staff!" Kyuu announced with through his muffled mouth. "Aren't I the best?" He asked as I reached down to take the staff from him.

"Yeah…you're the best." I replied but I didn't look him in the eyes. I was still scared of what he might be. I mean…he's my familiar. He wouldn't be evil, right? I guess I couldn't avoid it forever. "Kyuu? You're not some monster, right?"

He looked up at me. "Is that what's been bothering you?" He jumped up onto my shoulder. "Why would you think that?"

"You never enter the training circle. And Master said he knew what you were…and he looked at you like he expected you to kill us." I said.

He sighed as he jumped off my shoulder. He ran up to the training circle. "Watch carefully." He stepped over the line and did a little dance on his four feet. He jogged around through the three circles, even entering my private one, danced some more, and then ran back over to me. He stopped by my feet. "No Daedra could do that. Only good spirits." He hopped onto my shoulder, lying down. "I may have been powerful once…maybe. That's the past. But I'm _your_ bound spirit now…and not to some crazy necromancer's that wanted to use me to destroy Tamriel. Spirits are influenced by their owners, Veselle. And you're my contract owner. I obey your rules and your morals. Remember that." He cooed as he settled down for a nap. "And I'm happier being a good spirit this time."

"Well…who was your previous owner?" I asked.

He looked away. "Nrillia." He commented and then closed his eyes. "Not a fun time back then. When she swapped bodies with some Bosmer I was released from her contract." Nrillia? Who was Nrillia? I guess it didn't matter.

Kyuu and I talked about stuff the whole way down to the mine. I guess I didn't know how much time had passed while I talked to Kyuu. By the time we finished our conversation, Talvas turned to look at me. "Veselle. We're here." He said. He was hiding behind a rock. I lowered down and snuck up to him. He looked back at me and then at Kyuu. "It looks like you've made up with your familiar."

I looked away. "Yeah…I guess."

Talvas looked back at me. "There are two guards by the door. Do you want me to handle the whole thing? You can just stay out here if you like."

I shook my head. I thought of Riften, how that Khajiit girl Ruby and that Argonian Maleek singlehandedly killed a massive god. And I was shot by a Thalmor. I had to summon a god to fight for me and save my life. If I had been stronger; if I had been better at dealing with those situations…it wouldn't happen again. And if I grew stronger…I'd be able to help people like that Ruby or Maleek if they ever needed it. "I have to do this. How about you stay behind me and you help support me?"

He shrugged. "Bold initiative, Veselle. Careful, I might start liking you more." He pinched my cheek. I had to knock his hand away.

As I walked past him, I punched him in the shoulder, which made him cringe in pain. I pulled my hair back into twintails and tied them off, reaching for my staff. I looked at Kyuu. "Are you ready for a fight?" Kyuu nodded and I took a deep breath before I walked up to the mine. Two scary-looking bandits…or reavers I guess stood by the entrance. When they saw me approach one looked at his buddy, nudging him on the shoulder.

"Hey…she's here." He said as he pushed off the doorway welcoming me. "It's about time, mage. We thought you weren't coming."

That made me pause. "What?" I couldn't believe that came out so harshly. And it made the two reavers recoil at my voice.

"B-but…of course you would come." He took a step back. "I mean…you asked us to get you some test subjects and…we told you we would." He grabbed me by my shoulder and directed me to the doorway. I looked back for Talvas, but I could barely see him from the rock he was hiding behind. He waved discreetly at me, giving me a thumbs up. Looks like I was on my own for now. "They're inside. Just talk to Duin. He'll give them to you…for the price we negotiated." He ushered me through the doorway. "Just go straight down. We need to be on lookout for any Redorans." He closed the door behind me. "Can you believe she's so young?" He asked his friend.

"She's a Telvanni mage…what would you do with such magic if you could? She's obviously using life magic to make herself younger." His friend stated.

What the heck was going on here? I don't know but…I didn't seem to have to fight anyone. Was this good? I have no idea, but as long as I can get to them and make sure they're safe, that's all that matters. I guess someone had hired the reavers to abduct the family. And it was some Telvanni mage. And I guess I looked like her. Ok…I can deal with that. I tried to look confident as I stepped into the mine. The entrance looked small, even for someone young like me. I found myself ducking under the beams over my head as I walked through the main tunnel. Some reavers were digging at the walls with pickaxes. It looked like they were mining iron from the cave walls. The paid little attention to me as I walked past them. Then I came up to a more open area…filled with nothing but water.

Yup, in front of me was a giant lake inside the mine. What was this doing here? Worst of all, I saw dead bodies deep in the water. They looked old and waterlogged. Was this where they dumped the dead bodies? "Ve…"

I shushed Kyuu. "Just call me 'Master' in here. They think I'm someone else." I whispered to him. He nodded and settled back down onto my shoulder. I looked around for a second. No one was even batting an eye at me. Was I expected to swim across this lake? Ugh…I didn't want to do that. And Master hadn't taught me Waterwalking yet. I looked back at the picking reavers. "Excuse me?" I tried to act a little cocky. I'm guessing whoever paid these people to abduct a family wasn't exactly a nice person. I think if I acted more like Master Neloth I would come across an appropriate character for this scenario. "Am I expected to dirty my robes getting my test subjects?" Yeah…that was something he would say. I'm almost certain of it.

One of the reavers sighed as he stood up from his lump of iron deposit. He walked over to me, stepping into the lake. "Hey, boss! The witch is here! Drop the lifter!" I looked up as a gate far above me opened up. And a stable-looking box with a handrail built in slowly lowered down. It hovered over the middle of the lake. The reaver standing next to me pulled a lever on the wall; a bridge underneath me rose to the surface of the lake that led up to the 'hovering over the water' box. I nodded to the reaver that pulled the lever and walked across the slick bridge, almost slipping on the way, to the box. I tested the weight of the box before I climbed inside it. It didn't even wobble. I had to hand it to the reavers…this was much better than swimming across a lake to get where they were. I held onto the ropes holding the box and looked up at the reaver looking down at me. He didn't wait a second longer. The box started lifting up and I started to slowly getting higher and higher. I started gripping the rope tighter as I avoided looking down. I really hate heights.

I closed my eyes and waited. The box finally came to a stop and the guard unlatched a door I didn't know even existed on the box. I kept that in mind for on the way back down. I wiped my hands off and stepped out. I nodded to the reaver. "I believe you have something of mine." I looked around. Locked behind a door was a family. One man, one woman, two children: one boy one girl. Hmm…so these were the Vedes family then? I looked around for the owner. "Are these my test subjects?"

The Reaver Lord nodded as he stepped up to see me. "As we agreed. You gave me 1,000 drakes for them and I went out and collected them as I promised. Take them." So…someone had already paid then. That made this a lot easier. Good. I nodded to him and walked over to the cage. He walked up with me, looking down at me. "You look a lot younger. Did you do something to your face and hair?"

I nodded. "Yes. I used Life magic to make myself appear younger." I said so casually that I almost believed I was this evil woman. The Reaver Lord seemed to believe me too. He unlocked the cage door. The family members were all tied up individually, their mouths wrapped. They stared at me like they expected me to kill them. Man…were they in for a surprise.

"Do you need some men to carry them to your lair?" The Reaver Lord asked as he looked back at me.

I sighed in an irritated fashion. I flicked my twintail and threw my hands on my hips like I had an attitude. "Do I _look_ like I need help controlling four pathetic farmers?" I channeled my inner-Neloth when I said that. "You are looking at a Telvanni wizard. If any of them run, I will dominate their minds and crush their spirits beneath my superior mind." I looked at the family, trying to look as intimidating as possible. "I am certain that these…" _What did Neloth call me?_ "insolent whelps will be of no concern." I even looked away to show how much I really didn't care. "They will follow me, or they will be turned into husks and dragged back by my vicious familiar." I gestured to Kyuu.

The Reaver Lord looked at Kyuu and arched an eyebrow. "Are you sure he _is_ ferocious? He looks cute to me."

Kyuu cleared his throat and jumped off my shoulders, landing on the ground. "You doubt the power of _Versantein_?" He breathed fire out his mouth as he spoke. His nine tails lit on fire and he started morphing into a giant sabre cat-sized spirit. Wow…when _that_ become a thing? He growled at the Reaver Lord for a second, breathing fire lightly out of his mouth.

The Reaver Lord backed off, raising his hands defensively. "Ok, forget I said anything." Kyuu started morphing back to the little cute version I loved so much. He didn't show it on his face, but I could tell his was exhausted from that. Reaver Lord gestured to me. "Please…go ahead, Master Ildari."

I reached into the cage and looked at Kyuu. _Kyuu? If you can hear me, scratch your ears cutely._ And he started licking his claws and running them over his ears like he was dancing. It drew everyone's attention to him. _Kyuu…can you talk to the prisoners? Tell them I'm here to save them? Just yip if you can. And tell them to lean forward if they understand._ And he yipped. His eyes glowed for half a second, his ears sticking straight up into the air. I looked back at the group. All four of them looked up at me, their eyes looking surprised. The father leaned forward, slightly nodding to me. I reached in for him, hulling him up. "I'll be taking my test subjects and leaving now." I said to the Reaver Lord.

I got to go down the lift first. I waited four times for the others to come down the reaver-made lifter one-by-one. Once all four of us were gathered up, I nudged them to come with me. We strolled right out the mine. I nodded to the guards, putting my attitude back on. "Congrats on getting me my test subjects for me. I will be in touch for when I need more." They nodded and I left with the family walking behind me. I kept walking with them behind me until we got to where Talvas was hiding. As we cleared the guards' points-of-view, I nodded to Talvas to join us.

He sprung out from behind the rock, nodding to me. "That sure was lucky. They were expecting you?"

I shrugged. "They were expecting a female Telvanni wizard…and I'm a girl wearing Telvanni robes. Yeah…they were expecting someone just like me. And apparently, she's old because everyone seems to think I'm shallow and using 'life' magic to make myself look younger." I scoffed at the idea as we walked away. "Well, either way, we got the family freed. And we did it without bloodshed. Let's just get them back to Raven Rock." As we got even further away, we untied the family members. We received some hugs and whispers of thanks. Once we got that out of the way, the six of us, plus Kyuu, ran back to Raven Rock as fast as we could before whoever paid for this family to be captured in the first place found out we took them. Along the way with our dead sprint, the family took several loud seconds to thank me for freeing them. I told them it was no problem, all while never stopping for a second. Last thing we needed was a bunch of angry reavers and a Telvanni wizard coming after us.

As we approached the Bulwark, Redoran guards were waiting for us at the entrance. Master Neloth and Captain Veleth waited for us at the entrance as well. They nodded a greeting to us as we ran up to the Bulwark. "Congratulations, you two, on successfully bringing the family back." Master said as he walked around me. "You look like you didn't encounter much a threat." Then he looked at Talvas. "You either, Talvas." He stepped in front of us and crossed his arms. "Explain."

And I did. "I told Talvas I wanted to take the lead…to get some experience in fighting." Master arched an eyebrow but didn't say anything. "And as I came up to the mine…the guards called me over…saying I was late. They told me they gathered the test subjects I wanted. They let me inside. And I just…played along. I went up the mine, convinced the Reaver Lord to give me the family. He thought I was some old Telvanni wizard who paid him in advance to collect this family. Once I got them in my care we left. Then we ran like oblivion to get back here."

Captain Veleth nodded. "That was quick thinking." He noogied my head and turned to the family. "However, this does present a problem. Whoever paid for these folks will show up to collect them. And they will find out that someone already took them. And then that person or the reavers will return to find them." He looked down at me. "And they'll remember you as well." He looked at the family. "Now…we don't have much room inside, but you can move inside the abandoned mine. I'm sure we can make room for you inside."

Master rubbed his chin. "I am curious about what will become of these folk if we leave them here. The Telvanni wizard may know how to find their location. It would be inconvenient for her to obtain these farmers after my apprentices put so much energy retrieving them. Not to mention…I want to know who this Telvanni wizard is."

"The Reaver Lord called me Master Ildari." I looked at Master Neloth. That made his eyebrows shoot up. And Brelyna caught her mouth like I said a curse word. "What?"

"Master?" Talvas started to say.

He dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "Impossible…she's dead." He walked past me, looking at Brelyna, and then at the farmers. "You will come with us. We'll build you a house big enough for your family and you'll be safe with us. This…is a personal matter, and it seems you've been pawns meant to draw my attention. And it has worked."

Father Vedes nodded his thanks. "Thank you, Master Neloth." He ushered to his family. "Come kids…we're moving to…" He looked up at Master. "where are we moving to?"

"My little 'town' Tel Mithryn. Just follow Apprentice Veselle, the little one that saved you." His cape flapped as he started strolling away as fast as he could. "I must prepare your house. Take your time collecting your things from your previous house; everyone guard them while they pack up. I fear this has only just begun." He took off for Tel Mithryn, leaving me to look at everyone.

"What's going on?" I asked Talvas and Brelyna. Their eyes said it all. Someone from their past had just come back from the dead.

Brelyna looked down at me. "My mother might be alive." And that's all I heard about that.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_Ok, so my gripe. I thought of a place where Reavers could in fact...store some prisoners. I used the wiki site and said... 'hey, a mine with Reavers'... ok. So i wrote that as the location. Surprise, surprise. I looked at the description of the mine. Two guards, two more inside. And then... past the pool. And that made me stop. A pool? In a mine? And then... past the bridge. What the hell was going on inside this mine? I had to break out my skyrim game and actually venture into that mine...which my 360 crashed when i did that (it loves crashing with skyrim in it). But did it again and found out there's a fucking lake inside. And I was like...oh...and Veselle's going to have to swim in this stuff. I already made her do so much crap. So, I ventured on, past traps, through Reavers, past a small settlement within the mine. It was a really intricate mine. And finally up to the final level, and laughed when i saw not only the trap door leading to the lake filled with dead reavers, but the cage door in the same room where they kept all the loot. Perfect, i thought. Elevator time.  
_

_Oh, and Kyuu.. I don't want you to think he's all cute and cuddly. Veselle made one mistake. She invited him in the circle...even if she didn't verbalize it. She accepted it and he was allowed in. Take that as you want to, but don't just assume he's good yet. I haven't made up my mind. He already lied to her about having no partners before...and that he had no strength before her contract. Just think on that for a while.  
_


	8. His pen is?

**Cearbhail**:

___Took me forever to figure out what I wanted from this chapter. But once I knew how I wanted it to start...everything else just wrote itself. Literally, so don't think I planned this conversation between Kyuu and Veselle until I had already gotten up to that point and went... hey... these is an opportunity to do something weird for once. Add some unexpected humor and stuff.  
_

___Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
_

* * *

_Dear diary of shadows,_

_The past week has been hectic. After a rescue mission where I actually single-handedly outsmarted some reavers into releasing a captured family to me, I told Master about a Telvanni mage with the name Ildari that had paid for them. He flipped out and returned home, but not before telling the family that they were moving to Tel Mithryn. By the time I returned with the family, Master was already busy setting up defensive spells and circles around all the buildings. And he had somehow built an entire farm house right outside Talvas's room. As for now, Master is too busy to teach me anything, and Brelyna is running errands for Master. So, Master put me on self-study, much like what Talvas has been on this whole time. I'm to experiment with Alchemy, and I've been doing so. You know…milk, ice…vanilla… and a bag. Ice cream…duh._

_What else can I do? It's not like I'm working on some important project that only I can figure out. Besides, I hear that alchemy is a hard thing to learn. Experimenting with all these different alchemical ingredients required for chocolate bars and different ice cream flavors really takes up a lot of studying, tasting, and lounging time. I will not stop until I find the perfect ice cream flavor. You know…for alchemy. ;)_

_Veselle.._

_…_

"Veselle, get out here!" Master called from my doorway, almost making me jump. He sounded slightly irritated and his tone of voice told me this was urgent. So, I grabbed my staff and rushed out the doorway. When I stepped out, the first thing I saw was a giant flash of light flying right into my face.

I screamed and just like that a giant wall of warding magic ripped up in front of me. I heard and felt the impact of the fire spell upon the ward…but it wasn't mine. Kyuu growled as he jumped onto my shoulder. "Looks like it's time for a fight, partner."

When the fire cleared away, there was a giant flaming thing that looked feminine in form. The thing stretched out its hand and fire sprang to life in it. It started launching several plumes of fire at us and I continued to stand there while the ward was pelted with flame spell after flame spell. I stood there in shock while I thought of what I could do. "Um…"

"Veselle!" Kyuu cried from my shoulder. "I know I'm getting stronger but…this is still a strain for me. I can't do anything else while this ward is up…and I'm running on low here."

"Right…" I said to Kyuu. I looked around my room. All I saw was my alchemy station, with a giant cooler of ice. "Right!" I said to Kyuu. "Just hold the ward until I say 'go'. Ok?" And he nodded. I cleared my mind and imagined my soulic arms reached out and grasped the ice. And I felt/saw the ice in the cooler as it started shaking and pulling up from the cooler. I had successfully used my Telekinesis spell. I visualized my arms launching the ice at the fire monster. And it started pulling back. Once I willed it…this stuff would fly. I waited until a plume of fire stopped on the ward. The thing was warming up another storm. "Now!" I screamed to Kyuu and he dropped his ears…and the ward. I launched my hands forward, my tiny imaginary launcher firing all my ice cubes at the flaming monster thingy. It looked Daedric.

The ice slammed into the creature, just enough to make it go defensive, covering its face. "Ok…Operation Ice Cream That Thing has officially begun. You take the Vanilla…I'll take the chocolate mint." Kyuu nodded and his eyes started glowing. My giant cooler filled with vanilla ice cream that tasted really good started flying up into the air, forming into compacted balls. I was doing the same with the chocolate mint. Time to …cream…this…whatever it was. And I charged out the door, my army of round balls of creamy goodness behind me. Kyuu and I separated as we ran circles around the temporarily blinded creature. When it finally came aware of us it started warming up more fireballs. And just like that it started throwing fire at us again.

A giant plume of fire raced for me and I jumped to the side as it flew past me. I actually had to roll as it rolled over my head. And when my knees touched the ground, I pushed myself into a roll that I had learned from Mjoll back in Riften. When I came up, I saw the giant river of fire falling down on me. I pushed off to the side, just barely escaping a haircut…a really bad haircut. But…I had an opening. And I launched three cream balls. I hit it right in the face, and it was blinded again. The circle of fire surrounding it started dying off. "Now!" I said and I started launching all my creamy balls. Kyuu did the same. We had nearly fifty between us. It was two entire containers filled with creamy goodness after all. Too bad I had to waste in on this. But we pelted the heck out of it. And before we even ran out, the creature was barely flickering with flames, down on its knees.

"No more…I'm full!" The fiery creature announced. I could see just how fat it had become. "Too much cream…I'm lactose intolerant." She screamed. "Oh…crap…" It screamed as lava flew out of where its butt would have been. The creature cried in horror for a few seconds while lava launched out of its butt like a molten river. And when it finished the thing exploded into flames. When the flames dispersed…there was nothing left of it. Good…I had just killed my first lactose intolerant Daedra. Lucky me.

"Apprentice!" I heard behind me; it was Master Neloth. I turned to see where he was. I turned just in time to be slammed with a full round of lightning. I was taken off my feet, flying through the air. My vision darkened and I didn't really know what was happening anymore. The lightning had run all through my body. Every part of me was screaming in both confusion and pain. By the time I hit the ground, my body was in full spasms and I was vomiting in my mouth. It tasted like mint chocolate. It was good…but coming up it wasn't.

"Veselle!" Kyuu cried. A giant ray of light formed over me, but it was suddenly taken away before anything could heal me. "Noo!" Kyuu's cries died off and then there was silence.

I felt the ground around me shaking. I had to…do something. I tried to make my body move, but nothing happened. My body wasn't responding to my commands yet. It was still confused as to what all the electric shock was. "Are you just going to lie there? If I were Ildari, you would be nothing but a pile of ash in the air. You need to step up your defensive training. And it is for this reason that you are going to take a quest." A quest? What was going on? "You see, the town of Raven Rock is running low on economic trade. If we do not assist it, the town will soon fall to low income. And if the town fails…the Redoran will retreat with most of the town. My tower is not moving…and I refuse to live on a gods' forsaken island with no resources coming in. So, I have chatted with Crescius Caerellius. It would seem that he has a plan to reopen the mine…which is filled with untapped ebony which would stimulate the trade between Raven Rock and Morrowind…as well as nearby Skyrim. So, you are going to Raven Rock to speak to Crescius. He will tell you what you need to do to reopen the mine. I expect there to be…violence. A good test of your abilities."

"Sir…I should come with her." Talvas said from somewhere my stiff neck and my motionless eyes could not see him.

Master sighed. "Oh, alright. The two of you make a good team, no dismissing that. And if you two become better at working as a team…well, who knows who you'll be capable of facing. However…I do not want you two teaming up too often. It might create a co-dependence…which the two of you will not always have. She will have to learn to walk on her own two feet eventually, Talvas."

"How about when she can at least control all the elements of Destruction?" Talvas snapped out.

Master grunted. "Fair point…I guess it was too early to spring my daughter's Flame Atronach at her… without shock or frost magicka to use against it…I honestly didn't think that through." Master walked over to me, standing right on top of me. "My apologies, Apprentice Veselle. I had a momentary lapse where I forgot…Flame Atronachs cannot be harmed by fire magicka… and you have yet to learn anything above it combatively. I am however pleased by your initiative and creativity in using frozen dairy products to compensate for your inability to magically defeat it otherwise." He patted me on the head and I felt Restoration magicka surge through me. I found myself being able to stand up. When I sat up I looked around for Kyuu. I didn't see him anywhere. He was just gone. Not passed out in the ash…just gone.

Master walked away from me, back up to his tower. "When you get back from your mission…you will begin learning Frost. You have been warned."

I stood up from the ash, brushing the ash out of my frizzled hair. My hair was frizzled? Must be from the lightning that had surged through me. I looked over at Talvas. "Did Master really call me outside to hurt me?"

Talvas shrugged. "He was testing you. The first time, I'm guessing. Keep your guard up for now on. Aren't you a marital artist? Didn't you have test weeks where you'd always be on guard because your instructor would come out from around a corner and fight you with everything they had?"

I shook my head. Mjoll and Karliah had only ever gave me light lessons; teaching me how to use a staff at the very most. I hadn't learned how to use a sword or anything, but they did teach me how to deal with a person who had one. I had only done a few lessons. I wasn't some black belt…heck I was barely a brown. Ok…I'm not bad. And I had been doing it since I was six. Ok…I'm a complete martial arts nut. And I kick butt…but I don't like people knowing that about me. I'm not a fighter…I just know how to fight pretty well.

Talvas waited for an answer, but I didn't offer one, so he shrugged. "Ok. But just so you know…Master is really pissed off now that he thinks Ildari might be alive. And if she returns… well… let's just say that these little training sessions will come in handy." He patted me on the back. "Well, we should get to Raven Rock and talk to Crescius."

We started walking along the trail that led to Raven Rock. I looked over to the farmhouse where the Vedes family lived. They were more than happy to move all their livestock over with them and just reopened their dairy farm here in Tel Mithryn. They had cows and chickens, which was nice because they gave us eggs and milk every morning. Where did you think I got all the milk I needed for my ice cream experiments? Too bad I myself am lactose intolerant. I can't drink a lot before I get gassy. It's because of this I stick to smoothies and grape juice. But I was trying to learn how to use milk in a way that didn't affect lactose intolerance. I was going to call it Lact-Assistance. However all experiments ended with painful sessions with the bedroom bathroom. The toilet and I were becoming best friends.

The Vedes family was actually a nice addition to the daily routine here. I got the chance to play with the kids: Draseth and Zeratah. Draseth was about my age, only he was 12. He helped his father with the cows every morning. He was pretty serious at his 'job' as his father's farming assistant. Zeratah, 10 years old, was a different story. She spent her time running around the chicken coop, playing with the chickens and rabbits. She would often bug Master Neloth or Brelyna for magicka training. It would seem that both of them would be joining us soon for training. Once Master found what he was looking for. I don't know exactly what it was yet, but he was rushing to find whatever it was.

I could see Seth collecting a bucket full of milk from their cow Druilliah. When he saw me passing by, he cracked a smile before putting down the bucket of milk long enough to open the door to their house. He lifted the pail of milk and headed into the house, giving me a nod before closing the door behind him. I heard laughing and screaming as Zera chased her favorite rabbit Hera around their garden. Yeah…they have a garden already. Jeez…this was turning into a farming community. I didn't mind. They actually helped themselves to my garden, tending it for me. I, in return, set up a bunch of protection circles around their own garden and their livestock. I learned some new healthy circles that helped the livestock grow stronger and healthier. It led to more milk and fuller eggs. It was nice we could all get along.

As we walked along the pathway, we came across what used to be the ancient base that we had blown up. All that was left was a giant collection of circles with a trapped ash guardian inside it. Master would come by once in a while and study the thing. But it was Brelyna up here this time. She was tapping on some Illusion-based keyboard with some illusionary display of the creature. She was tapping her chin as she looked over its general makeup and its power ratings. "I think I understand what Dad was saying…" She mumbled as she started tapping things. The ash guardian stared at her with what I assumed with disdain. That thing had been trapped in that circle ever since our fight here. It tried to kill me, and that was my first real fight. I almost died, but Master saved me at the last second.

_Veselle?_ I heard Kyuu's muffled voice in the back of my head. "Yeah?" I asked in return, staring up at the sky. It was enough to make Talvas jump but when he looked at me staring up at the sky he rolled his eyes and continued forward. He knows I have conversations with Kyuu like this. He just had to get used to it. _The dismissal has worn off. I've been trying to call you this whole time. You can call me back now._ "That's good. What happened?"_ Your master blasted me from behind._ "From behind?"_ Yeah, with a dismissal. It really hurt and it forced me to withdraw. _"I'm sorry to hear that. So, how's the afterlife?" _You know, it's not so bad. I tried to write my report, but my pen is running low on ink. _"Your pen is what?"

I don't know what I said but it made Talvas choke on a laugh as he turned to look at me. "What did you just say, Veselle?"

I shushed him and looked up at the sky. "Wait…I don't know what that is. What is that? Please be descriptive. I have to picture it to understand what it is." _A pen?_ "Yes. That."

Talvas ran up to me, covering my ears. "Veselle…that's a private question. You don't ask a guy about that!"

_Well…a pen is a small writing instrument. It's golden plastic tube that is long and slender…filled with holy water that is used to write stuff like my daily reports to my Vermeister overlord and my healing runes that I use. It's like a quill, but this runs on Aedric holy water._ "You write with it? With holy water?"

Talvas grabbed his head. "What is he telling her?"

I shushed him again. "Ok…so it's small, slender, and long…and it excretes holy water?" _I guess you could phrase it like that. It's a weird way to phrase it, but it's better to say that it just…writes. And it runs on holy water that turns into black ink on contact with a solid writing material. We write holy wards with it too. That healing beam I use on you is made up of holy water._ "So…every time you heal me you use this thing and the holy water from inside it on me?" _I guess…jeez, Veselle. You sure phrase things weirdly._

Talvas's mouth was gaping. "He pees on you to heal you?" He shook his head. "I never want a contract with an Aedric creature."

That drew my attention. "What are you talking about, Talvas? I'm just asking about the holy water from his pen..."

He held up his hand to silence me. "Don't…just don't." He kept on walking. "We should continue heading to Crescius. I want to get this done with."

_Are you going to summon me?_ Kyuu asked. _I'd rather be with you than stay here in this realm._ "What's so bad about it? Why do you hate it so much?" _Nothing really. It's just boring. I used to do stuff, you know? And when my contract with Nrillia ended, well…I lost all my powers, returned to this form. Not that I would trade this cute body for some massive bloodstained heavy form that only came from betrayal and war. I lost a lot of friends that day. _"Because you were huge and covered in blood?" _Yes. I got a bad reputation among my peers that I failed to keep my previous owner on the right path. She went bad and they blamed me. I was her first contracted ally. That's why I love being around you. It's my chance to get this right, and fix my past. I have to watch my back; people try to get me from behind once in a while, hoping I'll just…die or something. One day, someone actually tried to get me from behind._ "From behind? That's rude. If you should something like that, he should at least be able to see you coming for him."

Talvas grabbed his head. "I'm so sick of hearing about his thing and what he does with it."

"If it were me…I'd take him face-to-face. We'd go a few rounds, sure, that's natural, but I'd force him down onto his knees and make him beg for forgiveness. And then maybe I'd finish him. It's what I would do at least." Yeah, that's what I'd do. I'd kick his butt, but at least it would be a fair fight and it wouldn't be a stealthy sneaky attack. I'd hate being attacked like that, and have ever since that Thalmor got me from his attempted ambush on the Khajiit girl in Riften. "Someone got me like that in Riften. Caught me totally by surprise. I will never forgive him." I looked down, thinking about that day. That Thalmor shot an arrow into my chest. I almost died, and I only survived because that Vermeister filled me with Restoration magic. "That Thalmor ruined my favorite dress. It was covered in so much blood. And I only survived because that dragon filled me with that white magic."

Talvas grabbed his head. "I cannot believe you just said all that." He turned to look at me. "Veselle, I am not comfortable with this entire conversation. I don't want to know about what happened to you with the dragon and the white magic…just eww. And I don't want to know what you'd do to a guy. Ok?"

"What? Why does it have to be a guy? I'd just as easily take on a girl, you know." I crossed my arms. I'm not some selective fighter. I don't care who I fight, I'll kick all their butts if they try to kill me.

Talvas held his tongue as he turned around. "Oh look…we're in Raven Rock. I guess we'll just end this conversation here."

I formed my portal ball and tossed it up into the air. The portal ripped open and Kyuu fell from the sky onto my shoulder. "Took you long enough to bring my release!" He cried out in joy. He wrapped around my neck, lying down. "I hated having to wait for you to finish…" He snuggled up on my neck. _The portal. Sorry…too tired to from real words. Want to sleep. Ok?_

I nodded. "Go ahead and nap. I'll wake you up when it's time to continue. Ok?" He nodded and drifted off.

Talvas, the whole time, rubbed the bridge of his nose as we walked through town. "Veselle." He started to chastise me. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure…" I ran up to him, catching up beside him. "What's the question?"

He looked over at me. "Maybe I missed the conversation…maybe you weren't…talking about what I thought you were. Can you clarify what you were talking about?"

I shrugged. "Oh…you know. Kyuu's magical pen is low on Aedric healing water, and he's complaining to me because he uses it all on me from time to time to repair my clothes and stuff." I looked back at him. "I don't really know why you're getting all hard on me all the sudden. I thought it was Master's job to be hard on me so that I don't forget my place as his apprentice…but you're my upperclassman. You're supposed to be loose with me and just have fun mentoring me when I have questions."

Talvas looked away from me back to the road ahead of us. Everyone in town had stopped what they were doing and looked at us. Why were they staring at me with such wide eyes? I didn't get it. Talvas sighed. "I'm not hard on you…I'm just…" He looked around at the mouth-dropped shoppers and then looked back at me. "Choose your words carefully for now on." He smacked the back of my head and continued on. "You keep talking like this and people will start to think we're…you know…"

"No…I don't." I jogged to catch up. He didn't say a word after that; he just kept staring at the staircase leading up to the mines. "See? You're being a pain in the butt! You just won't come and say what's bothering you!"

He stopped by the mine's doors. He sighed and looked at me. "Ok…we need to fix this now." He looked at me. "Veselle. The things you've been saying…think about them for a second. Really try to narrow down on exactly what you've said."

And I did. Ok…Pen. Holy Water. Um…did I say anything else? Nothing out of the ordinary, I guess. "I'm still not getting it." I shrugged and looked up him. "Just say it, Talvas. If I said something…and it's making you uncomfortable…just let it out."

He sighed. "Ok…were you talking about Kyuu's penis?"

"His…" That made me stop. "penis…" I grabbed my face in horror as I replayed the conversation. Flames started shooting out my body as my embarrassment embraced me. Talvas had to back up, putting up a Frost shell over himself and then putting a containment circle over me, keeping my flames from overwhelming the town. "No…no, no, no, noo…" I started sputtering as I continued replaying the whole conversation. I said… oh no…and then… ack… that was even worse! I was so embarrassed. Flames roared for a mile or higher in the tiny circle as I screamed in shame. And then…with the statement about me taking on a guy… oh no… and then saying Master was hard on me. Man…I really wasn't paying attention to anything I was saying. My flames were burning so hot that they were turning blue and white. When the fire finally started dying down, I was sitting on my knees, still burying my face in my hands as I screamed into my palms.

Talvas nodded. "I guess not. Well…I'm glad that wasn't what I thought it was. Imagine what I would have thought of you if you had been. What were you really talking about?"

I looked up at him, my face burning hotter than the flames that had roared out of me. "I'm not bi!" I screamed to him. "And… and… I'm not like that!" I buried my face into my hands. "We were talking about his pen! It's some writing instrument…like a quill. And then about his past where he was a towering monster that fought in a war and lost his friends due to his unsettling size and bloodstained fur. And then he was attacked from behind by one of his friends, and I compared it to what I would have done if I was going to attack someone. I wasn't saying…I didn't mean…ohh." I sank even lower into my knees, bowing to Talvas. "Please forget this whole thing."

Talvas sighed. "I'll be inside when you feel like joining me." He patted me on the head, which caused a small explosion of fire from me. He pulled his hand away quickly, chuckling. "You sure are hot some days." That drew another smaller explosion from me. He smiled down at me when I looked up at him. "See… it's easy to take what someone says out of context. Try to be more careful." He walked into the mine and I just sat there for a few seconds while I waited for my flushed face and trembling body to quiet down.

After a few minutes, I felt I was ready to try again. So, I stood up and pulled the door to the mine open. I slowly walked into the room to see Talvas talking to some old man. When Talvas saw me, he waved me forward. I quickly walked up to join them. Talvas turned to face me and then to the old man. "Crescius, this is Veselle Tenvanni. She's the newest apprentice. Try not to embarrass her. She tends to explode when you do."

Crescius looked at me and then over to Talvas. "Every girl does. It just means she likes you enough to be straight with you."

Talvas threw a containment bracelet onto my left arm before I could feel any flames pour out of my body. "No…she literally explodes…with fire and stuff. She has a hard time controlling her magicka when she gets stressed, excited…embarrassed." He looked at me. "I guess it's just good luck I had this old bracelet. It should prohibit any further explosions." He looked back at me. "Where's your necklace?"

I shrugged. "Um…I don't really wear it anymore. It's not like my flames really set anything on fire anymore. Only things I'm mad at." I glared at him.

He nodded. "You're keeping that bracelet on." He looked back at Crescius. "Anyway, we'll go and see what we can about clearing the mine out of the frostbite spiders. And…you want us to deal with some draugr?"

Crescius nodded. "Yes. I tried to go down there, but it's just too dangerous. Be careful, though. My great-grandfather died in these mines…and I wouldn't want you two to join him as a burial in these ruins." The old man walked away from us, sitting on a table in a darkened corner of the room that was only lit by a small oil-lit lamp. The shadow his face was cast upon by the light of the burning flame looked eerie as he glared down at the small flame. "You know…the way he died… the company said it wasn't their fault… that he died of an accident. I never believed them." I heard some bumps on the roof above us, and the old man held up a finger while glancing up at the ceiling. "You hear that? It's the ghosts of the ones that died here…from unnatural causes… that I could prove… if I could find my great-grandfather's journal."

"Right…" Talvas drawled on as he looked from Crescius over to me. "Ok, Veselle. Let's kill the spiders and draugrs so we can go home."

"Twinkle, twinkle fallen star… how I wonder how far down the rabbit hole you are…" Crescius sang to a little skull in his hands that he petted as he rocked back in forth in his little corner. His empty stare looked up from the skull up to me. His mouth contorted into some weird sneer that looked sinister and just plain wrong. "Down below the mine so deep…all who enter, their blood shall seep."

Talvas grabbed my arm. "Ignore him, Veselle. He's old, paranoid…and senile."

I felt so scared that I could swear that I just ate a bad patch of ice cream. "Ah-huh…sure." I replied as Talvas pulled me to the small board of wood leading down to the mine. I looked over the railing and saw just how far down the mine went. I accidentally kicked a bone that had been resting near the entrance to the mine. It fell from the edge of the floorboard I was leaning over. I paused as I watched it fall. When I couldn't see it anymore, I didn't hear it hit anything. Then…after ten or more seconds, I heard it hit something, and just like that, I heard some shuffling from whatever was down there, and some barking. Barking? What barks? "Twinkle, twinkle fallen star, how I wonder how far gone you are…"

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_What did you think of the ominous ending? The little song and the way he acts all paranoid, creepy, and stuff. I'm good at over-exaggerating characters like that. But that song...wow, when I thought of it, I thought of the actual quest and it matches pretty well to what happens.  
_


	9. Crypt picnic

**Cearbhail**:

___Ok, so I've been busy. You know, going to Japan and all that coming up soon. Had to book a hotel room for my three day vacation in Tokyo after my Shimane University course ends. Well, I didn't really know what to do for this chapter, but it wrote itself, and because someone requested some romance between Veselle and Talvas, which I was always going to do... just later on, I sneaked some in for you guys. Nothing serious but it's still nice.  
_

___Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
_

* * *

_Dear diary of shadows,_

_I don't know what day it is anymore. It was the 18th when we came to this mine. There was a small ladder and I was walking down it. Then Crescius threw a key at me, it bounced off my head, and I slipped off the end of the small ladder. Talvas grabbed onto my staff and he struggled to pull me up, but my hand slipped off my staff and I fell off the platform. I fell, and fell fast. I don't remember what happened, but when I opened my eyes, I was lying on my stomach at the bottom of the mine. Talvas is nowhere to be seen. I'm scared. I don't like this. But…even still. We were hired to clear the mines and I guess I will just have to do this on my own. I wish I had someone with me. I don't even see Kyuu. I hope he didn't die when I fell. I can't summon him for a day or so when he dies like that._

_I guess I need to continue on._

_Veselle._

_…_

I closed my book and slipped it into my back pouch. It vanished as it entered the small astral portal leading to some dimensional thing I didn't really know about yet. Master tried to explain it to me, but it was way above what I can comprehend yet. Either that or he just can't explain it correctly. When I asked for a dumbed down version, he pulled out a carrot and explained what a carrot was. "This is a carrot." I nodded when he said it. "Carrots grow in the ground." I nodded again. "This carrot came from a spectral part of the onmiverse where two centuries ago, the war between the Ayleids and the Nuances was quietly extinguished due to the potato shortage in the Bosmer Equivalence Exchange Program. This is important because the carrot represents the edges of the omniverse: thick on one end, skinny on the other, it is easy to realize exactly how the omniverse works, while simultaneously working against the dimensional rift brought on by the potato shortage of 2e 119. Dreadful year; went back in time to see it myself. How the omniverse was created and all that."

Even thinking about it now made my head hurt. He was good at teaching magic because he threw me face first into it. Unless he decided to chuck me inside my own pouch, I doubt I'd ever understand how the whatever it was called worked. I looked up the massive hole that I had fallen down. I could see a network of wooden platforms above me; a couple floors' worth. It looked like I fell down a mile worth of mine channels. I looked down at the patch of dirt where I hit. I saw the remnants of a circle that had covered me and faded away. The slight patterns reminded me of the levitator. That would mean that someone slowed down my descent. That would explain why I'm not dead. And why I don't have any broken bones.

The key that Crescius threw at me lied next to my boots. So, I bent down to pick it up. I looked around. There was a ramp leading up to the rest of the mine. I was half-heartedly ready to just turn around and leave, but…something was nagging me. I felt this little…tickle on the back of my neck and whatever I was feeling was drawing me toward the large hole behind me. The hole in the wall behind me was sloppily boarded up with some boards of wood. And I felt compelled to keep going. I don't know what _it_ was, but _it_ was calling me. _It_ wanted me to find it.

I walked up to the boards of wood and snapped my hand out. Magicka started glowing all around me and I launched it forward at the hole. Flames roared off my body, easily consuming the boards of wood. After a few seconds, the boards burnt to ash and I stepped into the hole. I found a small room with an iron door. I looked down at the key in my hands. I needed this key…to unlock _that_ door. And I just stepped up to the locked door and in a haze…I unlocked the door. I pulled the door open and looked ahead. A small dingy crypt lied beyond, and I could smell the rotten flesh. I bet this was where the draugr lived.

"Veselle!" I heard Talvas scream through the air. He sounded frightened. "Veselle!" He cried louder. "Where could she be? This is where she should have landed."

"She's not dead." I heard Kyuu's voice. "I would know."

"Veselle!" Talvas cried and I saw him poke his head through the hole. When he saw me, he looked so relieved. He ran up to me, wrapping me up in a hug. "Thank the gods, you're alive." He was actually squeezing me hard enough to kill me if he didn't release me soon, so I patted him on the back, trying to scream in pain.

"Talvas? Can't breathe!" I cried as loudly as I could through my crushed windpipe. I started pushing him away, but he kissed me on the forehead before I could break contact with him. That stunned me to where I stopped pushing. His warm lips lingered on my forehead for a few seconds before I felt him break contact and back up. "What? What was _that_ for?" My voice barely even registered to me, and I still felt stuck in my spot as I felt the warm spot on my forehead where he kissed me.

He hugged me closer again. "I thought you had died." He said softly to me before letting me break loose from him. I took a few steps back, but he just looked at me and smiled. He finally sighed and said, "I don't know what I would have done if I found you lying dead on the ground."

I continued to stand there. There was something in his eyes, some…I don't know what to call it. But it was creeping me out, so I ignored it. "Right." I said, trying to draw us back onto our mission. "I found this door."

He nodded. "Right, but our job was to clear the mine. I just did that while trying to find you." He reached out to grab my arm. "And that means our job is done. Let's go tell Crescius the good news." I felt that… whatever it was at the nip of my neck again. It felt like something was standing behind me, trying to grab me by my shoulders and pull me deeper into the mine. When Talvas turned around and tried to pull me with him, my feet stayed rooted to the ground. He paused as I didn't move. "Veselle. We're done. Just lock up that door and we can go back."

I shook my head. "Talvas…I feel something. It's deep inside the mine. I… I think we're not done. We haven't even found Crescius's great-grandfather's journal either."

He arched his eyebrows. "Oh yeah…he did mention something about that, didn't he." He mumbled and looked away. He sighed and started walking to the open cage door, handing me my staff back. "Well, let's go. Stay behind me and cover my back. I'll take the front." Kyuu smiled and jumped onto my shoulder. _I'm glad you're ok, partner._

I followed behind him as we started walking through the ankle deep murky puddles into the obvious crypt. I looked around at the bed slabs where bones of ancient Nords rested. Some of the decomposed bodies still had skin and muscle on them, their bodies carefully glazed over with some ancient oil that preserved their bodies, as well as their souls. We called these creatures draugrs. They were still perfectly preserved, if not a bit rotten and bony from centuries of natural degradation of their muscular system. Their souls had become feral, their minds only fixed on attacking whatever they saw that wasn't one of them. They waited for us, they wanted to consume us. They were always hungry, always angry, and always patient. They could stand in one spot for years without moving, hoping to find some lonely traveler to feast on. And I hoped we didn't end up a meal.

We traveled silently through the crypt. The silent draugr didn't move from their spots. Kyuu waited patiently on my shoulder as we snuck through the underground cavern. And we stayed like that for a few minutes; quiet as we carefully stepped through the ankle deep puddles. I wanted to avoid them altogether, but doing that would put me within sniffing range of the draugr. I didn't need them smelling my honey-scented shampoo that I used on my hair. I was carefully trying to keep up with Talvas, who was standing straight up. "Wait…what are we doing?" He asked as loudly as he could. When he did, I heard some moaning and some of the draugr started rustling from their stone slabs.

"What are _you_ doing?" I whispered to him.

He looked back at me, smiling. "We're supposed to be killing them. What was I thinking?"

I didn't have time to argue with him because he was already snapping his head around to fight a few draugrs stepping off their stone slabs. A few ice spikes flew into their chests and they stopped trying to stand up. Talvas didn't stop there though. He actually walked up and started freezing their heads, snapping them off the necks. I guess that was a sound strategy, behead them. I didn't have time to say anything to him. I heard footsteps behind me; sloshing through the puddles I had just trudged through. I turned around to see a few draugr running up to me, raising their swords as they charged up to me.

"Kyuu!" I cried out. He nodded and jumped off my shoulder. "Um… Strategy 3 D." I said to him and he nodded. You see, in our time training with Master, and I had been forced to work with Kyuu as my fighting partner, we had to come up with several different strategies to fight different kinds of enemies. Plan 3 D was a Defensive plan, as all D plans were. Plan 3s are a variation of using Wards and Kyuu's Telekinesis to help throw off our opponents. He mostly watches my back while I push the attack with my flames and my staff.

And that's exactly what we did. As the first draugr took a swing at me, Kyuu hopped up where the other draugr couldn't reach him and he raised his long ears. The draugr's sword suddenly curved away from me; making him surprised and giving me an opening. I stuck out my hand and tried to pull as much restraint as possible as I collected fire into my palm. I formed it into a ball and let it go. A normal looking firebolt flew out of my hand, slamming into the draugr's chest. The armor covering its chest absorbed the impact, but not before it was launched off its feet and into another draugr behind me. I took my staff and snapped it over the draugr's head. The head bounced off the ground once, but the draugr didn't get back up. I must have killed it with the slam. I turned my attention to the next draugr coming at me. As he came close, he was suddenly lifted off his feet and into a wall. The dead draugr's sword launched from the ground, impaling the pinned draugr to the wall. He groaned for a few seconds before the sword flew straight up, slicing the very thing in half. I had to admit, having Kyuu to help me was wonderful.

I jumped past those two dead draugrs into the nest of six more running up to greet me. I let my martial arts training take over as I rolled past a spear thrust. I came right underneath the draugr's legs, jumping up as his buddies started attacking me. I put my back to the draugr behind me and waited. An archer was taking aim at me, while two more sword wielders came at me. They slashed and I danced around their sluggish attacks. Say what you want about how scary draugr look; they were slow and brainless. Mjoll fought me with so much speed and ferocity, as well as well-planned attacks; while Karliah taught me graceful dodging and evasion. Together, they turned me into a one-girl army. And now I had magicka to help me balance out. Sure, I wasn't strong, and I didn't use any real weapons…but now my hands were legitimate weapons. And my staff.

I threw my back to the spear carrier and waited. The brainless draugr didn't even notice their buddy behind me. The archer released his arrow and I ducked under it. It slammed right into the spear carrier and I took that as my cue. I ran forward as the archer started reaching for a new arrow. I ran right up to the draugr with the sword. I planted my foot on his kneecap and pushed down while enforcing it with some flames. That's right; I can use flames through my feet. Jealous? His friend started coming at me with his massive claymore. I stuck out my hand and blasted him back with some telekinesis. He tripped on his own feet, falling straight down. His claymore just happened to land right in his head because I forced it to land there with my spell. Yeah…I'm getting the hang of this. Give me time and I'll be a great mage after all.

But…that telekinesis drew most of my concentration. The sword wielder may have crumbled underneath my flaming foot, but he still had his sword. And he got me. He slashed at my outstretched hand and he scored a hit with the very tip of his blade. It sliced right through a part of my arm, cutting me pretty deep too. And I lost all concentration as my arm lit up in pain. I jumped back as blood started dripping down my sleeve and down my hand. I stopped like an idiot to look at it and I heard the archer's bowstring pull back. I looked in time to see the archer release his arrow. I was so frozen I didn't know what to do. The downed draugr suddenly flew up and right into my face. And just like that, I was splattered with the draugr's blood as an arrow flew through his eyeball, stopping just an inch from my forehead.

"You ok, Veselle?" Kyuu called from above me. "I'm running on low here. I can't do this for much longer."

I heard more draugr running up to meet me and I looked down at my arm. Blood was still gushing out but slower now. I tried to make a fist with my injured arm but it was still pretty shaken up so I couldn't do it. I couldn't hold onto my staff like this. So, I did what I could. I reached up and tried to pull Talvas's arm bracelet off my left arm. It was hard with my hurting arm to grasp, but I had it off before more draugr got to me. Right as the archer pulled back another arrow and the other three sword wielders ran up to cut me down, I screamed out in pain and rage. Fire roared all around me and I pushed it forward. I wanted my flames to kill that archer and anyone in the way of getting to him. My flames rolled off my body, consuming everything within my sight. The draugr probably didn't last too long but I kept willing more and more fire to continue flying out. An arrow whizzed through the flames, missing my ear by a few inches and I stuck my left hand out, my staff already glowing with flames. I pushed it forward and a cyclone of fire launched from my staff, rolling through my already building wall of flames.

The fire in my staff started dying down after a few seconds, and I was left there panting in pain as I waited for the flames to die down. And it did in a minute or so. I meanwhile, sat there with blood dripping down my injured arm. I was trying to use my healing spells, but I… I couldn't focus enough to fix it. Kyuu jumped down from his perch as he could see that all the draugr were gone. And they were. They were nothing more than charred bones scattered across the floor.

"Veselle!" Talvas cried out as he ran over to me. "What happened?" He saw the charred room just beyond me. Then he saw my bleeding arm and went straight for it. He grabbed onto my hand and brought my arm up for inspection. He brought up his other hand and started feeding Restoration magic into my arm. It felt warm and tingly, but it also felt nice. It felt like an angel was kissing my arm and healing it. When the warm feeling disappeared, I felt Talvas's hand still holding gently onto mine. He was looking at my arm, sighing. "It will leave a scar, but…it doesn't look too bad." He looked at Kyuu. "Why didn't you heal her?"

Kyuu sighed. "I ran out of magicka. That last arrow would have killed her, but I diverted it at the last second. It took everything I had." So, that arrow that had whizzed past my ear was actually supposed to kill me. That shook me up.

Talvas looked from him to me. "And you're no better off on magicka, are you?"

I found myself shaking my head, still looking down at Talvas's hand. It felt so warm in mine that I almost didn't want him to let go. I looked at my arm, still seeing the blood drying on my sleeve, my hand still red with my blood. And Talvas was holding onto it, even though it was covered in blood. My blood. That was my blood. I couldn't get it out of my head. My blood. I had seen a lot of it before. I had been dying, an arrow in my stomach back in Riften. It stained my clothes, and my doorway. I had slid against my door when the whole thing had passed, and there had been a lot of blood on my back that I didn't notice. When I slid down my door to relax…I had rubbed all that blood onto my door. It was a constant reminder of how I almost died that day in Riften. I never wanted to see it ever again. And here it was…covering my whole arm and the end of my sleeve.

"Veselle, are you ok?" Talvas asked me as he squeezed my hand.

I looked up at him. He looked so concerned that I couldn't answer him. But I think he saw me blushing because he brought up his other hand to my forehead. And my heart raced. Why? Why was it doing this to me? I was suddenly thinking of that kiss Talvas gave me not too long ago and how it felt just as warm as his hand felt against my forehead now. My face started burning and Talvas noticed it. "You're running a fever. We need to take a break; catch our breath and get our magicka back." He looked at Kyuu. "Are you hungry?"

He nodded. "Boy, am I!" He cried as he jumped onto my lap. "Are we going to eat?"

Talvas nodded. "Yeah, let's take a break and get something to eat before we press on." He reached up for his backpack and slung it off his shoulder. He set out a picnic blanket in front of us, after brushing away what was left of a draugr's arm away from us. He set out the blanket and brought out some paper plates and a bowl for Kyuu. We always bring food with us for when we needed breaks. Talvas brought out two apples and cut them up, throwing them in Kyuu's bowl with an egg for his protein. Kyuu loved eggs and apples, and for some reason he loved to combine the two into his meals. I thought it was disgusting, but apparently foxes love eggs so…Kyuu loved it. He dug right into the bowl, happy as could be.

Talvas handed me an apple and I silently took it from him. I was still thinking about his hand and that kiss. I took a bite of the apple, happy to know that I wasn't dreaming or anything. Talvas was really sitting here with me, eating an apple. We carried a couple eggs for Kyuu, but Talvas only really carried apples and grapes with us. Sure, he had a few ash yams, but I'd just as well stay away from those for now on. He quickly finished his apple and took out an ash yam. He started passing it to me, but I shook my head and took another bite of my apple.

"Come on…it's not so bad. You should try it with jelly, or honey. That would make it taste better." Talvas nudged the yam in my face.

I knocked it away. "Maybe later. I'm not really hungry." And I wasn't. We just ate maybe a few… wait… how long was I out anyway? I looked up at Talvas. "How long was I down here for while you looked for me?"

"An hour maybe?" He suggested. "I had to fight through a nest of frostbite spiders to get to you, you know. They just kept coming." Spiders? Good thing I hadn't been around for that part. I'm scared of spiders. And I think it showed on my face because Talvas smiled. "No worries, I killed them all. It was part of the assignment after all." He started spreading honey on the yam, taking a bite of it, over exaggerating how tasty it was as he offered me a bite. I still shook my head and went back for another bite of my apple.

We sat there for a couple minutes eating apples in silence. I got through two apples before Talvas pulled out a thermos filled with juniper juice. He poured me a small cup and passed it to me, while taking some for himself. I was so glad I started up my own garden. Eating only ash yams and canis root tea would get so old so fast. I kept thinking about the things Talvas did that I couldn't take not talking about it. "Um…Talvas?"

"Yeah?" He asked as he finished his cup of juice.

I thumbed my cup for a few seconds trying to think about what I wanted to ask. I sat there for so long that Kyuu answered. "She's wondering why you kissed her." He stated in-between bites of his food. "She won't stop thinking about how warm you were…it's really cute but kinda annoying at the same time."

"Kyuu!" I yelled, looking at him as he went back to eating. I looked from him over to Talvas, who just sat there, drinking another round of juice. Wait…that didn't look like juice. And the smell…that was sujamma. Alcohol. "Are…are you drinking sujamma?"

He nodded. "Yup. Need to calm my nerves." He said. "This place…I hate being in closed spaces deep underground. Ever hear of claustrophobia?" I shook my head. I had never heard of it. "Well, if I'm in a place that is small and surrounded by walls, I start feeling like I'm trapped and that I might die or something. So, I'll start freaking out and trying to escape. But…sujamma helps me override that fear. And it helps me lower my inhibitions." He said as he reached out for my cheek, brushing the backside of his hand against it. "Like touching your cute little face." It was then that I could tell just how slurred his words were. He was drunk! That's why he was acting this way. Damn alcohol. Root of all uncertain advances. He might not like me at all, but his drunken mind was telling him different. Figures. I almost wanted to kill him now. Talvas had leaned closer, gently grabbing me by my chin, pulling me towards him. "And those lips…"

My heart raced and my face flushed over as I thought of what I could do. We were inches away and I…I… I closed my eyes and felt my lips pucker up as I felt Talvas's breath on my face. Then something inside me snapped and I pushed him off me. "No!" I screamed to him. "You're drunk…this isn't right." I stood up and started putting the plates and stuff back into his pack. Talvas was still lying on his back, grabbing his head as if he was having a split headache. My heart was still racing and I felt that feeling on my face, my lips still ready to meet his. I…I couldn't think about this right now. We had a mission to complete. I took Talvas's thermos from him, sniffing it. A strong smell of sujamma flew right up my nose and it burned my eyes to the point where I started crying. I screwed the lid back on and threw it in the backpack. I was tempted to dump it out and throw the thermos away, but…I thought about his claustrophobia. I don't know what would happen later on, how much further in we would need to go. And I don't know how he would take it. Too many variables. And right now…I need him as sane as possible. Just not drunk as possible.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_Did anyone even think that Talvas might be drunk the whole time? I hadn't really intended for it, but when I reread the chapter for problems, I noticed that Talvas could have been drunk the whole time, so I didn't change it. I actually think he started drinking while Veselle was having her conversation with Kyuu. Hearing that will make any man drink to forget things. And...don't think the quest is over yet. if you've played it, you know it's only started. I'm guessing five chapters for this, probably less though. Can't wait for the boss. Don't know what I'll do for that, but I'll try to make it epic, like I've done so many times in the past for other stories._


	10. Inquianari

**Cearbhail**:

___Yup, next day delivery. I really wanted to keep up the flow while I still had it. I might just continue until this entire quest is done. If I post one tomorrow and it's this story and not Chronicles of Ruby then you know that for certain. Anyway, I had so much fun writing this.  
_

___Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
_

* * *

_Dear diary of shadows,_

_So, we've had a small break. I got to use my martial arts for a real fight for once. I mean, sure I've used it against Mjoll and Karliah but I've never actually had a real life or death brawl with monsters. I had to stand up to several draugr while Talvas unleashed his drunken spellcaster art form. Yeah, that's right. Talvas is drunk. He's afraid of close spaces so he keeps himself intoxicated to the point where he doesn't worry about things. It makes him louder, less cautious about touching me, and really really excited to fight things._

_Oh yeah, about him touching me thing. He seems to enjoy hugging and kissing me while he's in this state. Not that I really mind, well, not really I guess. But it's just that he's drunk and… whatever he's feeling isn't real, and I don't want fake stuff, you know? But either way, we got in a fight with some draugr and I got cut pretty bad. Talvas healed me…held my hand, tried to kiss me. And then I pushed him off me. He passed out and so… we just sort of slept here over night. I can tell by the watch on his wrist. It's actually 01:23, the 19th of Second Seed. Once he wakes up, we'll get him doped up and ready to continue this quest. We still have a mine to clear out._

_Veselle Tenvanni._

_…_

I closed my book and stuffed it away. I looked over at Talvas, who I had to wrap up in a blanket earlier when he passed out after eating too much. It amazes me the things he keeps in his backpack. I actually had to look inside to see just how much stuff we had. A few blankets, two thermoses (one sujamma and one juniper juice), ten or more apples, a pound of grapes, two more eggs, a crystal ball for communicating with Master in case we needed help, a single pillow, and a crystal quartz wand. I'm guessing that was for drawing circles that we might need later on. So, I had pulled out a blanket for him and a pillow and pretty much adjusted him until he was comfortable.

And it wasn't easy. He kept wrapping me up in his arms and hugging me to him like I was a teddy bear or something. It took real effort to escape his grasp and make sure he was properly swaddled in his blanket. I used to see drunks in Riften all the time. If you don't swaddle them, they just get up and walk around, usually for the worst. They were worse than babies, they were drunken babies. And Talvas was no different. He snored loudly all night long. Shortly after Talvas went to sleep, I released Kyuu so that he could sleep in Aetherius. So…I was all alone in a dark crypt while my drunken partner slept all night long. I thought about drawing a circle around us and getting some sleep as well, but I was afraid. I can admit it. I know circles work, but what if I woke up and found a hundred or so draugr surrounding us? I mean, I could fry them, but what about Talvas? I might fry him too by accident if I did that.

So, I stayed up while Talvas slept. Well, that was the plan at least. Once we got towards 21:50, I found my eyes closing on themselves and I was sluggishly rocking side-to-side. So, I pulled out a blanket and lied down. I don't really know what happened but I felt warm. And I wrapped myself around that warmth. I heard light snoring and opened my eyes. I had somehow ended next to Talvas, my arms wrapped around him. He was still swaddled so he hadn't moved. That meant when I was tired that I had lied down next to him and fallen asleep. My head had been resting on his shoulder as a pillow. I must admit…it felt nice. And it was warm, so I just…drifted off again. It was around 01:10 that I woke up and started writing my journal entry. I wanted to go back to sleep, but I could feel it again… that icky feeling that something was reaching out for me.

As I looked down the hallway to the chamber beyond, I could sense something was looking for me, reaching out for me to take it. Whispers in the dark called for me and I couldn't turn my ear away. Whatever it was…it wanted me to find it. And I intended on it. Whatever it was…I had to know what for sure. So, I started looking around for stuff to do while Talvas slept. Kyuu was still sleeping so I didn't want to wake him up. He said he'd tell me when he woke up; and I've yet to hear him say anything to me. The crypt had gotten colder as the night progressed. There was the constant cold breeze that passed through, and for once I wished I had a huge coat to wear over my clothes. I wasn't wearing my robes anymore. Since they got slashed up earlier today and Kyuu ran out of energy to fix them, I had to switch to my personal clothes. So, I was wearing basically a tunic and a skirt, instead of my layered robes that flowed down to my feet. Even so…my robes were still basically a dress and I doubt I'd be any warmer than I was right now…just more protection from the draft on my bare legs. My legs were freezing. My arms were too. I looked at the scar that had formed on my arm. How long would that stay there? I'm sure I could find a spell to remove it completely.

Occasionally, I would look at Talvas. He'd groan and try to shift to his side, but my swaddling proved too effective. He was locked in his spot. That was a problem though. If he vomited…he could drown on his own bile. So I would make sure to look at him to make sure he wasn't drooling out his mouth. He didn't. He just snored, groaned, and mumbled in his sleep. A few more minutes would pass by and I'd find myself leaning against a wall covered in cobwebs and mold. I'd drift off for a few seconds, but then I'd hear something…some shifting of stones, or the sounds of draugr shuffling on bedrock…the occasional barking that draugr make. It sounded like they weren't too far away, but I wasn't going to search them out. I wanted Talvas by my side when I continued on. And hopefully we'd find this thing before too long. Whatever I was feeling. I yawned for a second before my vision blurred. I found my eyes closing and I thought I saw something in the distance. A shadow or something.

…

I don't know where I was, but I was standing on a platform, surrounded by bubbling tar. The platform looked like it was a net made up of black tar strings. The tar that bubbled right underneath me looked poisonous, ready to consume me if I fell for a second. There was a feeling…I had felt it before. The gnawing feeling on my neck, that feeling that someone was watching me, toying with me. I looked up at the sky. The sky was tinted with a dark sick green/yellow/even orange skyline. Bubbles of tar floated in the sky above me like they were clouds or something. _Welcome to my library..._ I heard a heavy grinding, oozing voice call from the back of my neck, like whoever said it was leaning over the back of my neck, craning their mouth to my ear as they whispered a greeting to me. I felt tentacles wrap around me, holding me in my place as they slithered around. I was so frightened. If I moved, I didn't know what they would do. Would they tighten? Would they pull me apart? I didn't know.

_It isn't often I see a fresh young face in my library…_ The voice continued to call from behind me as the feeling of tentacles continued to slither all around me, constricting around my arms, around my neck, around both my legs. It was like a giant constrictor boa made up of a massive tentacle had wrapped itself around my entire body, just tight enough to keep me locked in my spot. It ended around my neck, the very tip brushing against the ear where I heard the light whisper of whoever had contacted me. I tried to look down, but I didn't see anything wrapping around me, but I could still feel it. _Knowledge… is that what you seek? A clue… to a mystery? What would someone like you offer in payment to such knowledge? How would you change your fate…your timeline? Would you destroy the very fabrication of webs laid out?_ The voice started growling at me, the tentacle around my neck constricting. I could feel my windpipe closing off and I tried to raise my hands to pull whatever was around my neck off me, but they wouldn't move from their spot. _Destroy all I've set in place? All the years of planning, conniving? You are not the one I seek, but an intruder. You are not Dragonborn. You aren't even the one to bring him to me. You are but a puppet…a figment… a bleep on the eternal calendar. What knowledge could I possible offer such an… impudent child such as yourself? What do you offer in return? What memories are you willing to share? What knowledge has someone like you obtained?_

I was frozen in fear but my thoughts were starting to spill from my head. I could see my birth, my first couple years growing up, my mother's face… my father. My entire childhood flashed before my eyes, and finally the day when father was locked up for stealing a ring. I was left alone for a couple months, always visiting him. The memory of Mehrunes Maven appeared in my head and the image froze. _Hmm…this is interesting._ The memory started playing out and then I heard the Vermeister calling for me. _Very interesting._ The creepy voice called from inside me. The tentacle wrapped around my neck started to loosen and then it slid into my ear…which felt really, really weird. The memory played out, the Vermeister summoning itself and killing the Aldmeri Dominion agents sneaking up on Ruby and Maleek. _Friends with my enemy… it would figure._

The memory of the battle faded away and it started speeding up through the month of me learning how to make enchantments to make money. I saw my father's funeral and then I packed some clothes and whatever coins I had made. I left Riften and went to Raven Rock to find Master Neloth. I could feel a tear forming on my cheek as I spent my first night in Talvas's room, holding a tiny cake that I had snuck in from Raven Rock. I sung myself a 'happy birthday' song, blew out the candle and cried myself to sleep. That's when I had my first lesson the next morning about learning flames. _A Telvanni mage? Student of the man I wish to ensnare. His brain…is filled with much knowledge I seek. And he will bring me the one I want. The Dragonborn._ My brain rattled like someone was fiddling around with it. I could see this… I'm going to call it a floating tar pit filled with a thousand blinking eyes and a million tentacles. It was floating around inside me, all those eyes looking at my memories and all my emotions. I could feel a tentacle slide down from inside my brain down to my heart, wrapping around it. _Such pain for one so young…yet, not nearly as much as those I've met recently. Nothing to learn from you in that department._

I started trying to fight my constricted body. "Let…me…go!" I tried to scream but as I started to say anything, I felt a tentacle slide up my throat and push through my mouth. It was so thick that I couldn't breathe and I couldn't even form words. I tried to bite down…or at least raise my constricted arms, but I couldn't do anything. _Silence._ The voice slithered through my head and the tentacle pulled back inside me. More memories flicked by, my entire training up to this point…and then…some flashes of stuff I hadn't seen yet. A…pillar? I don't know what to call it. The entire town was working on it, mumbling nonsense phrases. I was lying in bed, coughing up blood, Master Neloth standing over me. My face looked completely fallen in. I looked older… like it couldn't be tomorrow or anything. "Just hang in there Veselle." Master said as he placed a damp towel on my head. "I will find this…Miraak, and put an end to this war of his." _Ah…just the outcome I require. You have been set down the path already. And now… I offer a trade. You must never mention this to anyone, and in return, you will return alive…with a gift._

The tentacles released me and I fell to the floor. You know that moment when you fall asleep and you 'fall'? You know, where you feel like you're falling but then you snap awake and find yourself still in your bed? That's what happened. I fell and woke up jerking awake. I was still leaning against the wall, and Talvas was still snoring in his little swaddled wrapping. I thought the whole thing was a dream until I felt something in my hands. I looked down to see a book in my hands. It was dark green like the bubbling tar that was beneath the platform I was trapped on in my dream. On the cover of the book was a sigil for the gate of Oblivion. So…it was a Conjuration book? Should I open it? It was a gift so…why not?

I cracked it open, just to take a peek. I got to stop doing that. The book snapped open to page one and started flipping through all the pages on its own. My eyes darted around every symbol as the pages flipped by. Just as quickly as the book snapped open, all the pages had flicked by and everything inside the book was lodged inside my head. Unlike with the flames spell, this one was pretty simple. The knowledge itself was a contract with a Daedra Seeker. The entire book just laid down the terms and conditions for conjuring the creature. It was a long distance tank. It lacked the capacity to move quickly so it was best used when we had a lot of distance to our target. It attacked by throwing waves of air/electric magicka that acted like a solid wall of pain. And that was all I really needed to know. One seeker was assigned to me: name was Inquianari. Bit of a bookworm, know-it-all, and somewhat a never stopping talker. I should know, I heard all about him in the book.

Talvas was still sleeping, and Kyuu was still resting in his plane, so I figure… eh, why not? I warmed up the portal magic and visualized Inquianari. I willed a connection between him and me, and I released the portal. The portal flew off my palm growing bigger than me, turning dark purple as it ripped open. I heard a growling sound as the seeker drifted through the portal, closing behind it. It looked so…squidly. I mean, it was a massive well…mass of a round bulbous body wrapped in a ghastly sheet or cape, heck I can't tell. It had two really long arms that drifted further down than its floating body. It had no legs that I could see, and its entire head was comprised of tentacles like an octopus, with two beady eyes. The seeker was just standing there with a book levitating near its eyes.

When it didn't say anything I nodded to it. "Um…hi. I'm Veselle. I'm your um…partner?" Inquianari looked at me for a second before looking back at his book. And he stayed like that, his breath sounding like a light purr mixed with a ghostly moan. "So…I guess I should tell you all about me, right?" He just floated there for a few seconds and he continued his purring moan. "Right." I said, clapping my hands. "I'm well… I'm a mage. But I guess you knew that, right? You know, because I can summon you. So…you like books, right? I like books too. Whatcha reading?"

Inquianari glanced at me for a second and then looked back at his book, his moaning continuing. Well…this was not the conversation I intended to have with my new friend. It was like being back with Master Neloth all over again. I sighed as I sat back against the wall. The silence was replaced with the seeker purr/moaning while Talvas snored. I shook my head and tried to close my eyes again. "I wouldn't fall asleep." A scholarly voice that sounded almost like Karliah's whispered into the air. "Too many draugr around." The seeker said to me, returning to his book.

"You sound like a girl." I said to him.

The seeker looked over at me. "We all sound like this. We're all females." The seeker said to me. "What man could possibly be entrusted with acquiring and organizing limitless volumes and tomes of ancient and forbidden knowledge?" She looked at me. "My apologies, Lady Veselle. I was in the middle of my favorite romance and I wanted to finish my chapter before conversing." Her book vanished in thin air. "It really is a wonder tome, but unfortunately, you still have to wait 620 more years until the author writes it." She looked away. "Sadly, you may never know the splendor of being in such a book." She looked at me, sticking out her hand. The same book reappeared and she floated up to me. "I'll let you borrow it, though. You know, just in case you feel like reading it."

I nodded and took it from her. It looked brand new, and she said it was from 600 some years ahead of today. Wow…I was going to read a book before it was ever written. That would mean…I could get her to supply me with books to series that would outlive me before they were ever finished. I liked that idea. Imagine…I would never _not_ know how something ended. My, my. Having that kind of power could drive someone crazy. I squealed at the thought and hugged the book close to me. "Thanks, Inquianari." She nodded in return. "Um…" I looked back up at her. "Mind if I call you Anari? You know, a nickname?"

She nodded to it. "That would be acceptable." She said to me. "However, I do wish to be able to do the same with you. Would be ok for me to call you Elle?"

I nodded. That sounded like a cute nickname. People usually just called me Vess. "Sure, I don't mind that one bit." A smile formed on my face and I stood up, stretching my hands out for a handshake. "I can tell this will be a good partnership."

She took my hand and inspected it for a second before a long tongue snaked out of her mouth. It lapped on my hand a few times, this thick ooze spilling out onto my hand. I held the bile growing in my mouth as I looked up at her. "Hmm…you seem to be a descendant of the ancient Chimer race of elves. I taste fire magicka thick in your aura. You have ancestry steeped in magicka, almost like your family was a strong mage line. You must be quite powerful to be this tasty." She said as she wrapped my hand in her long tongue, running it over my palm and fingers. "Left handed…hmm…martial artist…mmm…favorite food is strawberry yogurt…"

"No it isn't!" I said to her, trying to hide just how disgusted I was. I was trying not to grind my teeth by her slithering tongue that danced on my fingers. "I haven't even had it yet."

Her eyes darted up to mine. "I suggest you try it then. You'll make it your favorite." She started running her tongue across my arm and I forced myself to look away. "You've died once, and healed by an Aedra Lord. You must have been young, because it's faint. Natural conjurer; book reader; strong-willed, a little sassy, headstrong, and…" Her tongue danced on my arm so more, and then it snaked up my arm sleeve to my armpit. I tried to keep myself from laughing as she started licking my armpit. "ticklish." She pulled her tongue away, nodding. "Information gathering complete. I think I know everything about I need to know."

That was her way of getting to know me? I could think of several less invasive, less disgusting methods of acquiring who I was as a person. She could just…ask me.

"Ah-hum…" I heard Talvas clear his throat. I looked over at him to see him staring at me with wide eyes. "Maybe I'm still drunk but…how come I never get to do that to you?" He asked as he opened his thermos and started drinking more sujamma. Oh great…more drunk Talvas. Oh well, I should expect it. He gets scared in enclosed spaces. I guess he needed a quick fix before we started on.

His comment made my face blush madly as I pulled my hand away from Anari. "You ever do anything like that to me and I'll…I'll…" I could think of anything so I warmed up a firebolt and threw it at his face. It launched from my hand, slamming him hard enough to make him slam into the ground with a _thwack._ "I'll do that." I crossed my arms and looked at Anari.

Anari looked at me for a few seconds, tilting her squidly head. "I do not understand. Why would he lick you?"

I refused to answer that, but instead I turned around and started for the next chamber. "Pack up your stuff, Talvas. We're moving on." I looked back at Anari. "Anari…I have a question."

"Of course, mistress." She replied.

"I have this other spirit. Is it possible to have you both out at the same time?"

She stopped in her spot. "I would inquire if you were a real conjurer, but I already tasted that. A conjurer would know that you can summon as many spirits as your magicka control will allow for. You have to maintain the magicka draw for both of them, which for a summoner of a Vermeister, you should have no problem holding even six spirits in our plane for a whole day, depending on how you split up your drain between all six of them. Wouldn't want one spirit receiving all the energy for six spirits while the other five slowly drain until they are forcibly expelled from Mundus into Aetherius…or in my case Oblivion." She paused and then looked at me. "Why would he lick you? Is it to gather information as I have? I do not recall elves having that capability. Should I see about finding more about you by doing a more thorough scan of your deeper functions?"

I didn't even know what she would lick to find that out, so I shook my head. "No, no more licking. Elves don't have that function."

"Then why…"

I sighed. "Because he has this…crush on me and apparently he has plans to use his tongue." I don't even want to think what _he'd_ do with it. And with his increasingly intoxicated state, he just might try. Heck, last night he was trying ever so tactfully to get me to sleep with him. I really had to struggle to get out of that. Heck, even if I may have wanted that…he was still drunk and I didn't want that to be held against us in the long end. Whatever. I'd just smack him upside the head when this whole thing was done. Mjoll taught me how to erase memories by smacking them out with concussions. Talvas would forget this whole adventure soon enough.

By the time I had entered the next chamber, Talvas had sluggishly caught up with me, all our stuff packed away. I looked him in the eyes to see that same creepy stare he gave me yesterday. But now I knew what it was. It was his drunken eyes. They looked unfocused and distant. That's what was so creepy about them. We found ourselves standing in a dark round chamber. Draugr were lining some thrones circling the room, and I knew what that meant. I paused before we completely entered the room. "Talvas." I pushed him back. I pushed Anari as well. "Wait out here." I stepped into the room and just like I thought, when I got halfway inside, both the gates to the entrance and the exit fell down upon me and the unlit torches on the wall started lighting up one by one.

Now…I didn't want Talvas in the way because I wanted to have some fun. I had a rough night and I just got mind-fucked by a tentacle god, and armpit licked by my new spirit. I could still feel that oozy saliva on my armpit. It felt weird. And these draugr that were standing up were my new punching bags. They were stupid and stood up one by one and running at me, waiting until I killed one for the next one to charge in. What were these, honorable draugr? They just waited here, thinking. Ok…Fred goes first, then George, then me if they last this long…then Sally. I couldn't think of a worse hell than being the last one picked…like always. Because he would know that if someone lasted that long…he really stood no chance to win.

So the first draugr ran up and I spun my staff around, cracking it in the skull. It went down and then the second one ran up. I rolled under his legs and stuck my foot right up its crotch. Now, I've heard a Draugr bark, I've heard them growl, and I've heard them talking in their dragon language. I've never heard one go falsetto before and grab its balls as it fell to its knees and pray to Alduin. That was a first. I gave him a mercy kill. I blasted his head off with a firebolt. The other draugr looked less certain of facing me so they all started sitting back down. Now…that wasn't fun for me. So I tipped my staff to the ground and willed my fire rune into the floor. The rune spilled out through the staff and onto the ground. I willed it to expand until it reached the feet of the draugr sitting quietly on their thrones. I could see their teeth chattering as they anticipating what I was going to offer them. "Either you get up and fight me…or I will blow you the fuck up."

I've never seen draugr contemplate things before. But they looked at each other and started talking in dragon speech. "They say they don't understand the cruel mistress's commands." Anari called from the closed gate. "But they suggest it's a die-die situation so they might as well go out in honor. So…it looks like they choose death by whatever cruel punishment you are offering."

"Awesome." I replied and readied my staff…letting the fire rune to dissipate. The ten or so draugr all stood up and ran for me…not one on one this time. I pushed forward, jumping into the air using some magicka in my boots to launch me up. I slammed my boots into two towering draugr running straight for me. I launched flames through both my feet, pushing off them. The two draugrs cried out as they fell down, clawing at their inflamed heads. I was soaring through the air, spinning around and landing gracefully ten or so feet away. Eight more draugr were charging me and I had to think fast. So, I…became invisible. Yeah, I still had that spell charged into my staff. And I used it on myself. And when I disappeared, I whipped around and set a fire rune underneath a draugr. I held enough of my power that when it went off it only blew up the one draugr. It was pretty hilarious actually. One second he's there the next…he's there…and there…and over there…and on the ceiling.

And since I had popped back up, I cracked one draugr on my right in the head, reverse-spinning my staff and cracking the one right next to him. They both went down. I rushed through the rest of the crowd, throwing one with a levitation spell up onto this stalactite thing on top of the ceiling. I left her there. She fell down on her own anyway. I had only one left and so…I had some fun with him. I ran up to him and levitated his skull out of his head. And then I beat him to death with it. It was pretty easy actually. All this time I was thinking of Talvas and his trying to pull up my skirt and fuck me last night when he was drunk off his mind and partially asleep in the blanket I gave him. He wanted head? I'd give him a head. I cracked the draugr's head one more time with its skull, smashing the skull-less draugr's head flat. I dropped the skull on the ground and the doors started opening on their own.

Talvas slowly walked into the room, looking at all the carnage. Anari just floated in; purr/moaning as she glided into the room. "I detect high levels of adrenaline and anger in the air, as well as a tinge of self-abuse and shame." She looked at me. "Mistress, are you ok?"

I was out of breath, and I was splatted with draugr blood, but I nodded, looking down at the smashed draugr. "I'm better now." I looked at Talvas. I picked up the skull and tossed it to him. When he questioned me, I arched my eyebrows. "That's the only head you're getting from me." And I turned to continue on. Ha! That was a great one liner. I bet he'd be lost on that one for a while. Serves him right.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_Yup, had some great moments in this one. Hope no one minded the whole... Veselle goes badass martial artist on the draugrs. Like I said, she's growing up quickly and learning how to use both her body and her mind to fight. Having something else on her mind that she's trying to resolve makes a great focuser too. And Anari... she was one of my favorite moments of today. I thought...she needs two spirits. And then I thought... why not make it a Seeker? A know it all spirit that's really intelligent but clueless at the same time. Really shabla clueless. Oh well, hope you enjoyed the chapter. Oh...and Red Vs Blue reference... you know, beat him to death with his own skull. It doesn't seem physically possible!  
_


	11. Shared shower

**Cearbhail**:

___Sorry for the delay. My Tomodachi Life game came in the mail and well...I had some fun. And Friday was my birthday. A shaman...having a birthday on a Friday the 13th...during a full moon. yeah, it was something. Went shopping for crystals but didn't find anything that 'spoke' to me, literally. so, I hung out with my niece at an Irish fair instead. I wanted to go roller blading at Presque Isle but it was raining the whole way down so that was out the door. Oh, so I guess I should talk about the chapter right? Um... Veselle and Talvas share a slow motion action scene. And...go.  
_

___Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
_

* * *

_Dear diary of shadows,_

_Where, oh where to begin? Well, last night was something. But we already know about that, don't we? And today was something too. While I was drifting off at one something, I kinda ended up in some…I'm going to call it a place for a lack of any clue as to what it was. I thought it was a dream. This giant tentacle thingy that was completely invisible started crawling up my legs, wrapping them so I couldn't run; then it traveled around my arms, locking me from using them; and then it closed around my neck trying to suffocate me. Then it ended up by my ear and started whispering to me, demanding to know why I was in its lair and all that stuff. It started choking me, threatening me. And then its tentacle slithered through my ear, and I could feel it feeling around my head, in my memories. It made me remember things I didn't want to know and insulted me. And finally it let me leave. I woke up with a Conjuration book. Oh and by the way, I made a contract with a Daedric Seeker named Inquianari. She's cool._

_So, after I made friends with my new contract spirit from Oblivion, Talvas and I continued onward. I 'accidentally' got locked in a combat situation where I had to fight numerous draugrs. I may have enjoyed killing them too much. I just kept thinking about Talvas while I kicked one in the balls, smashed another one in the head with his own skull. After that we continued on killing several other rooms filled with draugrs. I let Talvas lead us while I followed behind him. I wanted a bit of a rest while watching him fight. Once Kyuu wakes up, I can't wait to introduce him to Inquianari. I hope they get along._

_Veselle._

_…_

Ok, so the walk wasn't so bad once I let Talvas take the lead. We traveled through the hallway, and we first passed a small deposit of some eternal ice stalled stralhrim. We left it alone because we wouldn't know what to do with it. He told me if I touched it without special gloves that my entire hand would freeze over and I would slowly become a frostbitten statue covered in ice. I was kinda curious so I almost pushed him into it…but then I'd be all alone in this ruin. But as luck would have it, Anari had a lot to say about stralhrim. She told us all about its origins and how it won't freeze us for eternity for at least an hour. And during that hour we spent it in cover while being shot at by some draugr overlord standing on a bridge over two higher levels with a waterfall behind it. And that's where we were standing right now. Well, that's where I was standing. Talvas was… um… unconscious. Here's what happened.

"And it is because the ancient…" Anari had been drawling on about the ancients this and the ancients that… while telling us about the ancient ice and how it had been discovered for armor and weapons. That ice is what led to the creation of Frost magicka… if you can believe it.

Talvas looked back at us, sipping at his thermos. "Guys…we should be quiet. No idea who we'ee eee eee eeee eeeeeeee…" He squealed as he was suddenly turned into a light-up Talvas. Two soul gem traps had both opened fired at him with electricity and he took it hard. I watched him light up; even saw his skeleton a few times before he launched a few ice spikes at the gems. He hit them and they fell from their pedestals but once the lightning wore off, he collapsed. And as soon as that happened, I head barking up ahead so I went to check it out. There was an open door at the end of the hallway. As soon as I stepped out to take a look what was inside the doorway, an arrow whizzed right past my head. So I ducked back in and tried to formulate a plan. Every time I look back into the room, I see three scary-looking draugrs waiting for me, and one archer who already nipped my twintails a few times. I kept looking at the waterfall. I'm gungy; covered in draugr blood, sweat, filthy muddy water, and Talvas drool. I _really_ want that shower.

_Partner!_ Kyuu called into my head happily. _I'm awake now. Please summon me._ Gladly. I ripped open a portal and Kyuu came bounding out, landing on my lap. "Morning, Veselle!" He chirped to me before looking over at Anari. He pointed to her with one of his tails and said, "What the shab is that? I'm gone for one night and you replace me?"

An arrow flew through the doorway, smashing into the wall. 34. That made 34 arrows all stuck in the wall now. I looked down at Kyuu, who glared up at me with some of the scariest cute light blue eyes I've ever seen. It made me want to pinch his cheeks. And I did so. "Aw, I can't take you seriously when you're mad, Kyuu."

He purred and rolled over on my lap. "Ooh, rub my belly!" He purred as he batted my hand with his paws. So, I tickled his belly while he chirped/laughed.

Anari floated up to us. "My name is Inquianari. I'm a seeker. My Master is Hermeaus Mora. Trust me when I tell you it was not Veselle that sought me out; it was my Master that placed me in her service so I might keep an eye on her during my mission that he has not yet disclosed to me."

"What?" I turned to face her. She was…an agent of that thing that tried to kill me? She was only here because he told her to be here? And she was only here to keep an eye on me? I looked down at Kyuu, who I remembered was only here to feed off of my energy and become stronger, which he maybe already be. And when he grew powerful enough, he might try to kill me and destroy the world. Jeez…I seem to keep making the best of friends in the ethereal worlds. "You're…here to watch me? What does that mean?"

She looked over at me, blinking her eyes. "Am I to inquire that you believe that our contracts with the terms and conditions are limited to only what _you_ want?" She looked at Kyuu. "We have agreed to assist you in combat and anything else you require us to do. We allow ourselves to be put in danger and face numerous deaths on your account…and you expect us to _not_ have our _own_ agendas? I have been assigned to you by my Lord, who wishes to use you for his purposes. He is the Lord of Fate…therefore you cannot escape it no matter how hard you try; he just wants to make sure you uphold part of his plan. And that's why I'm here; to make sure you do not stray from what _he_ wants." She looked over at Kyuu again. "And this creature…I am uncertain of his true purpose."

"I wish to feed off of Veselle's magicka and grow stronger…strong enough to overthrow…" He paused and looked up at me, smiling. "I mean, I wish to grow stronger so that I can show my parents just how stronger I've gotten…and to be of service to my best friend, Veselle." He rubbed up against me. Yeah…I did not believe that for a second. I looked at both of them. So…they were both using me for their own gains… but I guess I was using them too. Quid pro quo, right? Since they both didn't really want to be here to be my friend, I had less worries about sending them out to do their part of the bargain…fight for me.

I looked at Anari and waved her forward. "Ok…so, we need a plan. What do you think we should do?"

She sighed as her eyes started glowing. I don't know what she was doing, but she looked over at me. "I see three draugr scourges with heavy weapons; and draugr overlord with a bow watching the doorway. I could go out and buy you some time to advance. I can teleport pretty quickly, but my attacks are pretty weak. The just hit more opponents at once."

Kyuu looked up at me. "I'm pretty quick and can dodge stuff too…but I'm also weak. But, now I can grow a little bigger and can deal some decent damage…but I'm slower and it really drains me afterwards. I'd be dead after my initial assault."

Ok, so I had Kyuu and the floating brain. Kyuu could move quickly and the brain could hit multiple opponents. Kyuu could transform and deal damage quickly….that's it. I nodded to them. "Ok, I have a plan. Kyuu and Anari, I need the two of you to work together. Anari carry Kyuu with you and teleport up to the balcony where the sniper is. When you get up there, release Kyuu onto him. Kyuu…I need you to grow big and wail on that archer; tear him limb from limb. Anari, I need you to distract/attack the three down low while Kyuu does his thing. I'll charge in and help you with the three draugrs." I looked at everyone. "Ok…are we good then?" They nodded and Kyuu jumped into Anari's hands. They teleported and I turned to run out the doorway.

The archer turned to fire down at me, right as Anari popped up right next to him. Anari released Kyuu and he transformed mid-jump. He landed right on the archer and started tearing into him. The archer pulled his bow up and fired right into the air. It flew right past Kyuu, drawing blood from his ear, and hitting Anari right in the head. Anari released this sound of gas and she exploded. I don't know what happened, but she faded away. She must have died. Poor Anari. Now she can't spy on me for a day. Kyuu started shrinking down already. The archer shrugged him off and Kyuu jumped off him. The archer pretty much kicked him through the air and back over to me. I grabbed Kyuu as he fell from the ceiling, turned around, and raced for the doorway. Three arrows smacked the wall right beyond me as we rolled back into my safe spot. Ok…that plan failed.

"Uugh…" Talvas said as he started stirring. "What…what happened?" He said as he looked over at me. Oh well…so much for my shower. He stood up and walked over to me, rubbing his head like it was split in two. He opened his thermos and started drinking again. Jeez…just how much sujamma does he have anyway? He nodded to me as he closed his lid. "Hey pigtails." He said, pulling on my left twintail. "What's up?"

I knocked his hand away from my hair and gestured to the doorway beyond me. "We have a strong archer beyond the doorway up on a balcony, being covered by three heavy weapon draugr scourges." I looked up at him for any sign of intelligent life. I didn't see any.

He nodded and took a deep breath. "Ok…here's how we're going to do this." He looked at Kyuu. "Ok, Kyuu. I need you to do a really epic wall run that looks amazing. That will distract at least one of the heavy fighters. If you can, shoot some fire around at the archer, maybe blind him or something." Then he looked down at me. "Ok, Veselle. I know you're going to hate this but…we're going to have to act cool for a scene and act like we know what we're doing…while in slow motion." What? What type of plan was that? He grabbed me by my shoulders and nodded. "This will work. Just…flow with me. Ok?" Flow? What the heck was he talking about? "Ready?" Ready for what? "Go!" He pushed me forward and we rushed into the room.

And it seemed like we were really running in slow motion. Kyuu ran right onto my shoulder and pushed off, landing on the wall to our left, running alongside it. Talvas was ahead of me running so slowly that I barely could believe this was really happening; and I was sprinting beside him trying to keep up. The archer released an arrow and pulled back another. I watched as the arrow slowly raced right for me. Talvas jumped in front of me, ducking. He grabbed me by my legs and picked me up. He tossed me in the air and I watched as the arrow flew right between us like he planned it. And I was able to keep track of the stuff happening all around us. He was right…this slow motion action rocked! At the same time, one of the heavy wielders slashed at me. Kyuu jumped from the wall, flying right into the draugr's face. One fireball later, we had a distracted draugr. Kyuu jumped off his head before any of the other heavies tried to take him.

I was still falling; Talvas stepping up to the distracted draugr. He stuck out his hands and launched two ice spikes into his chest. The draugr flew off his feet, crashing into the wall. Talvas had time to reach up and grab me before I hit the ground. He swept me up in his arms and then over his back. I could see what he wanted me to do. There was another heavy coming at us with his sword. I rolled right over Talvas's back, bringing up my legs and kicking at the draugr in the chest with my flaming foot spell. Once I rolled off Talvas's back and onto my feet, Talvas snapped at the draugr still pinned to the wall, freezing his head. I looked up at the archer. He was releasing an arrow that was aimed right at Talvas. I spun back, grabbed Talvas by his collar and pulled him away right as the arrow ricocheted off the wall. The arrow barely skimmed his proper-looking nose.

The draugr I kicked was starting to get up. Talvas grunted as he jumped into the air and then basically froze in his place as his boot smashed through the draugr's head. I could see Talvas's drunken/angry expression frozen on his face as sweat and draugr blood filled the air around him. Then we started moving again. I brought my staff up onto the last heavy, Kyuu still running on the wall like a badass. Talvas placed his back to mine as he rounded on the archer pulling back another arrow to shoot at us. The heavy slashed at me and I caught it with my staff over my head. He was pushing hard, but I held him without sliding and getting my hands cut off. The archer released the arrow and Talvas slowly brought up his right arm to catch the arrow; catching it right before getting hit in the head. "Almost…done…with…slow…motion." He drawled to me; and I nodded to him. "Rotate!" He and I spun. I knocked the draugr in the head as I spun with Talvas.

Talvas spun the arrow around in his hand so that the tip was sticking straight out. As he came up to the dazed draugr, he took the arrow he caught and slammed it right into the draugr's throat. Kyuu jumped from the wall to the draugr, scratching out his eyes. Talvas ended it by throwing his palm to where the draugr's throat met the bottom of his jaw. He launched an ice spike straight up through the throat into the brain. The draugr flew straight up a few feet before crashing onto the staircase above him. The archer released another arrow and I brought up my staff. I don't know how I did it; maybe it was the slow motion action but… as the arrow raced for me, my staff seemed to catch it. I somehow got the arrow to spin around my staff, and as I spun my staff the arrow spun with me. I threw my staff in a forward slam and the arrow launched right off me and flew right into the draugr… but this time the slow motion wore off and it was instantaneous. The arrow just suddenly appeared in the draugr's head; his head rocked back and he dropped his bow. He stood here, wobbling for a few seconds before his knees crumbled. He fell from the bridge above us, landing on the ground with a sickening _thwack._

And just like that, our world seemed to return to us. Drunken Talvas was drunk; Kyuu was incapable of running on walls anymore, although he was still trying; and I was still wondering how I got my bo staff to do that with the arrow. The miracle of slow motion action scenes seemed like something we should do only on a limited basis. No idea what crazy magic we were really working with.

I looked over at Talvas, who was busy sliding down a wall. "Ok…that was fun." He looked at his thermos. "But now my head hurts. Did…did I really just smash a draugr with my boot?"

I nodded. "Yeah…that was pretty cool."

He nodded. "Tends to happen. I saw that thing you did with that arrow." He spun his hands in the air like it was imitating my staff. "I feel like I'm the sidekick on this quest." He glanced at me. "So…what do you want to do now?"

I gestured to the waterfall. "See that? A pool with a waterfall…and it drains normally. I really, really, want a bath. Think you can…you know…not be in here for a few minutes while I wash up and change my clothes?"

He nodded. "Now that Kyuu's here, he can just fix your previous robes."

Kyuu pawed at the wall. "I didn't get a great scene! I want to run on walls some more!"

Talvas started standing up and taking off his shirt. "Whoa!" I screamed to him. "What are you doing?"

He looked at me. "I was going to join you in the waterfall shower. It's big enough for both of us. Look…I can throw up an Illusion wall between us. We won't even have to see each other." And before I could object, a giant white screen wall flew up between the whole room. It flew straight up to the ceiling and I couldn't see any holes in it at all. I could see Talvas on the other side as a shadow…more like a shade, I guess. I could see where his shadow would have been if there had been a lamp off in the distance and this giant Illusionary wall was some really heavily stained glass. "See? Try to cross it. Bet it feels like glass." I placed my hand to the wall and it felt solid. Talvas's shadow walked up and placed his hand next to mine. I couldn't even feel it at all. This spell was amazing.

"Think you can teach this to me? Or something like a door for my bedroom?" I was still using that giant leather pelt as my 'door'.

"Sure." He replied. And I heard him take his pants off…and I guess I could see his shadow doing it too. I forced myself to look away as he walked over to the waterfall. I heard him walk inside the pool and heard water crashing down on top of him. I was still not fully on board with this but I started taking my bloody top off and my skirt too.

I stripped down and tossed my bloody clothes into a pile. "Kyuu?" I called to him. "Please fix my clothes too!"

"Yup!" He said. "Once you invite me in." Oh come on…that again? "Ok…you're allowed on my side of the wall too." He morphed right through the wall like it wasn't there. He ran up to my clothes and started using his healing beam.

"Hey, Kyuu?" I called to him as I stepped into the pool. I was as quiet as possible as I glided up to the waterfall. I could see Talvas's shadow from the other side. He was basically right next to me. "Mind grabbing me some soap and shampoo from the backpack?"

"Kay!" Kyuu called and ran back to the other side. I tried to ignore the fact that Talvas was less than a foot away from me as I started running my head underneath the surprisingly hot waterfall.

"Hot waterfall?" I asked as I stepped back. "What?"

"Sorry, that was me." Talvas called from right beside me; making me cover my chest and jump a bit. "I may have used an Illusion spell that makes the water hot. Or…it's Alteration. It's really a combo. I wanted warm water so the water became warm. It's not an illusion; the water's not cold and we're viewing it as warm…it really is warm."

"Oh…" I said as I stepped back under the waterfall. "Thanks." I let my face and hair just rest under the waterfall for a few seconds before sitting down in the deep end of the pool. I looked over at Talvas, who was still standing under the waterfall. I closed my eyes and just relaxed in the hot water while Kyuu bounced back over to me with a bar of soap and a container of shampoo wrapped up in his tails. He stopped by the pool of water and dropped the items for me.

"Here you go, Veselle." He smiled. "Mind if I join you in the bath? Maybe help me clean my fur?"

I nodded. "Sure, hop on in." And Kyuu didn't wait a second before jumping onto my head and then diving into the waterfall.

"You're going to let a boy bathe with you?" Talvas called from the other side.

I sighed. I looked down at my naked body and then up at Talvas's shadow. "He's a fox. And…he's not drunk." I looked over at Talvas's shadow. "Why? I bet you'd jump at the chance to join me." I grabbed the bar of soap and started lathering up my face. I hoped to get rid of all this blood soon enough.

"Need someone to wash your back?" Talvas called from the other side.

"I have Kyuu." I replied back. The thought of Talvas seeing me naked made me tremble. I didn't want him to see all the scars that covered my back, or my lack of chest for that matter. I got the scars from Marise Aravel from Riften one day when she thought I was stealing her bread. I had actually just taken it back from a thief and was trying to return it to her. She turned me around, pulled my shirt up, grabbed one of her whips, and gave me a back whipping in front of everyone in town. I also spent a day locked in a juvenile cell being lectured on what was accepted for children and what wasn't.

"Ok. Make sure to send Kyuu over here when you're done with him. I need him to wash my back too." Talvas replied as he sat down into the pool as well. He placed his back to the wall and I could see him relaxing. I found myself smiling as I started cleaning my hair and Kyuu's fur. We had a nice silence as we bathed and relaxed in the steamy water. Kyuu eventually joined Talvas and cleaned his back, and he just swam across the wall as much as he wanted, diving underwater and playing in the waterfall. I almost drifted off but as I started closing my eyes, Talvas started standing up from the pool. "I'm getting out now. If I stay in I will pass out. I'm already tanked as it is. If I collapse, the wall will too and then we'll both be bathing without a wall between us."

I didn't want him to get dressed before me so I jumped out of the pool and grabbed the towel waiting for me. I quickly dried myself off and rushed to put my Telvanni robes back on. They looked good as new. I made sure I had everything on perfectly before I had Kyuu help me with my twintail placement. Once they were back on, I let Talvas drop the wall. He was dressed in his robes, which looked new as well. "You looked cleaned up." He said to me with a slight slur. He gestured me to follow him. "We should continue on." I followed behind him as he led me up the stairs. "Think we've done enough yet to clear out the mines?"

I shook my head. "Although we're past anything the miners would be working on, I think we should just go through until we find Crescius's ancestor's journal. You know…to tie up all lose ends."

He nodded and led on. We found a door that was locked. He tried to open it and then sighed. "Watch closely." He placed his palm to the door for a few seconds. A green mist rolled off his hand, enveloping the lock. The lock clicked and the door opened up. "Tada…" He grumbled and drunkenly pressed on. I followed behind him. Talvas reached out to stop me, placing his hand right on my breast as he did so. It made me freeze for a second while he glanced ahead. "Two burial coffins." He said as he looked back at me. "And a pressure plate. Be careful." He stepped forward and missed a step. He stumbled forward, landing right on the pressure plate. The coffins popped open and two draugrs stepped out. And if that wasn't enough, I heard some whizzing past my head. Green-tipped darts whizzed past the room. The draugrs all got hit and they started stumbling. I felt a slight pinch in the back of my neck, and then my head started getting fuzzy. My vision blurred, and the last thing I remembered seeing was Talvas looking up at me, running up to catch me as I fell forward.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_I think that ending may have been a bit rushed. I'm tired. I'll make it up with the next chapter. Some of which will be Talvas taking care of a drugged Veselle. Because Kyuu will be sleeping from getting hit by a poisoned dart too. Just in case someone suggested I used that as an escape claus. Oh...and a couple people wanted to remind me of things that go on in these quests. Yes, there will be the Bloodshoal blade. I made certain to remember that before I started so don't worry about that. The quest was going to be just Veselle to begin with... but she's pretty physically weak so I threw Talvas in so that he coudl use the blade instead. That's why he's in. And Verona dying...yup, also coming up soon enough. Don't worry, I have a plan.  
_


	12. Ice Spike

**Cearbhail**:

___I'm back! Yeah, my niece visited and I spent a few days teaching her to ride a bike. Next year I plan on teaching her to rollerblade. Can't wait for that; bet she can though. She had enough trouble trying not to fall. Wait until she puts on rollerblades for the first time. That won't be much fun for her. Anyway, we have a good chapter. It starts off in Talvas's point of view. I know, right? A chance to see what's going on his head. Don't get too used to it. I only use other people's points-of-views for chronicles stories if the main character is incapable of having their own during a certain event... like this one. There was something important I wanted to add, but...I can't remember it.  
_

___Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
_

* * *

[Talvas] (I know, right?)

_Book of Shadows, entry date 4e206 19th Second Seed_

_Where to begin? We started this mission on the 18th, late in the afternoon around 3:30 or something. The mission was given to us by Master Neloth; the assignment is relatively simple. We are to help Crescius clear the mine of spiders and draugrs so that the town may begin to recover from their depression. The mission was meant as a test for Veselle, but I talked Master into letting me accompany her. I know she's strong in magicka; I've never debated the fact. And I know she's confident and a great martial artist. The only thing I know for certain is that I don't know what she would be facing and I wanted to be near enough to see that she returns alive. But, this mission is in a mine…and ever since I was a boy and my parents locked me in a dark cellar while Argonians bull-rushed our farm….I can't be in enclosed spaces. The room was so tiny, so dark, and I heard everyone in our little farm dying around me as Argonians ripped them apart. Even now, I can still hear my mom screaming as I hid in pitch black, my shoulders touching both sides of the secret wall. I couldn't handle it then…I can't handle it now._

_Because of my fear of spaces, I had begun drinking before we arrived to our destination. I heavily wanted to make my brain feel that it was ok for my fears to disappear. And it works. I don't have a high tolerance for sujamma so I use it to make my fears disappear. Too bad it also makes me think it's ok to … well for a better lack of terms, make-out with Veselle. She's cute, and I've thought about it a few times but she's… well… I can't put words to it, but evil is the best I can think of right now. With how much crap she puts me through, why on Mundus I think she's cute is beyond me._

_Anyway, all of that is beside the point. When we got to the mine, I was already in my happy place. And then Crescius had to go and freak Veselle out and then throw a key at her while she was glancing down at the mines below us. She tumbled and I thought she died. I chased after her, finding out that a whole nest of frostbite spiders took up residence in the mines. Do you know how fast they repopulate? 100 eggs from a queen a week hatch. One week to mature. I fought over a thousand frostbite spiders. I killed them all. I found Veselle at the bottom of the mine, unlocking a door. She led me into the crypt. We decided to kill all the draugr in search of Crescius's ancestor's journal. We found a few traps along the way and I got to see Veselle show off her martial arts. We bathed together, sort of, and as we left to find the journal, she was hit by a poisoned arrow. I'm tending to her now._

_Talvas Fathryon._

_…_

I had barely been able to pick myself off the floor after a few darts flew into my back. Luckily for me, I had so much alcohol in my system that it cleared away the poison like it was nothing. I was able to stand up and kill the poisoned draugrs before they could pose much of a threat. I walked back up the stairs and collected Veselle and the unconscious Kyuu. She was so light that I couldn't believe she was so strong. She felt like a doll in my hands; and she looked even cuter when she slept. She had this light snore thing that sounded more like Kyuu when he squeaked. I carried her back to the room with the waterfall pool. Even in my drunken state, I had enough cognition to tell what poison I tasted on my lips. It was a nasty one. If I didn't treat it as soon as I could, there was no hope in treating her. So I did the only thing I could. I set her down on the ground near the waterfall and pulled out my thermos of sujamma. It was full, just like it always is when I open it. I didn't tell her this, but my thermos is special. When I drink from it, it refills instantly with more sujamma. I love Alteration magic. I never have to worry about running out.

It was because I wasn't worried about running out that I unscrewed the top and opened her mouth. I know she hates thinking about stuff like this but…if I didn't do this and do this now… her heart would stop in ten minutes after head-splitting headaches, boiling blood, and spasms. The only cure for this was on my sujamma, not just the alcohol but … canis root and ash yams. Go figure, right? The things she hated most would be the only things to save her life. I tipped her head back to open her throat and started gently pouring my sujamma into her mouth. She coughed for a second before she reached up and grabbed the thermos like it was a bottle. She moaned as she found out what it was and her eyes flickered open for a second before they shut again. She moaned something to me but I kept dripping more into her mouth. I didn't like it any more than she did, but she needed it.

After a few servings of sujamma, enough to make me plastered…I think I gave her enough. I set her down to rest, turning to Kyuu. He looked comfortable, but twisting in his own pain. His eyes finally snapped open. "Poison breech in system. Activate Heal Beam." His voice called out robotically. His tiny form rose off the ground like it was floating in water. A white beam radiated from his body, bright enough to blind me. The bright light faded quickly and Kyuu collapsed on the ground where he started. He groaned in his own way and shifted over to look at me. "I…I can't properly heal myself. I don't have any magicka left." He looked at Veselle. "She's not feeding me in her state. If…if she doesn't do something soon I'll be forced back." He looked at me. "I…I can't dismiss myself either. Talvas…kill me." He said to me. "I'm draining too much magicka from her. She won't recover like this. Just kill me so I can go back."

I didn't hesitate as I blasted him with an ice spike. It seemed to take him by surprise too. His eyes went wide as he suddenly exploded in ethereal goo. I couldn't waste time arguing with him. I had to look out for Veselle first. He couldn't really die; she could. I looked down at her as she started tossing and turning. She opened her eyes to look at me, sweat glistening her head. "Tal…" She closed her eyes and drifted off.

I fought the urge to drink more sujamma. I had to be as lucid as possible as she rested. The room spun around me already; I didn't need to add to it. I couldn't tell how far apart the walls were, I couldn't tell how high the ceiling was. My mind couldn't tell so it didn't tell me I was in a confined space. I didn't really hear my mother's cry for help either. My thoughts were pretty shallow; mostly on my own grumbling stomach, my burning fingers and toes, the pulse in my neck, and the very welcoming lips on Veselle. I had to be on edge for a while. She was just as drunk as I was. And I bet…there's a side of her that wants to be with me as much as I do her. My mind was clearing up enough to where I could fight that if I needed to. But…did I want to fight it? I could just let whatever happens happen. Ugh…that was the sujamma speaking.

I sat there quietly for a few minutes while Veselle tossed and turned; reaching for her head and covering her eyes as the sujamma and the poisoned fought for her. I would add more sujamma every ten minutes to keep her system updated. The battle was won when she woke up for real. I knew enough Restoration magic to know when the poison was gone. It was gone when she vomited it out.

The world around me started to clear up; the walls becoming real forms, and the ceiling starting to return to an original position. I felt my heart speeding up, my consciousness taking in the fact that there was no wind, no air flow. It was cold, it was musty, and it was stale. I started to scrunch up into a ball so I reached for my thermos and took a few hits of sujamma. I felt that bitter sting of the alcohol burning its way down my throat into my stomach. It took a few seconds before I felt it hit my head. The room started to spin around me and I well, I stopped really thinking.

I sat like that for a few minutes, making sure I kept taking more sips to keep me in my current blissfully unaware state. I kept looking down at Veselle to see her sweating and trying to pull her own clothes off to keep cool. So I reached over and started undoing her robes. I'm drunk; I don't think about stuff. Once I had her robes loose enough to slide her out of them, I pulled them off and carried her over to the waterfall pool. She seemed even lighter without all her clothes to weigh her down. She looked really cute without them too. I laid her down in the water, making sure her head was comfortably resting on a towel and went back to my little spot. I lied my head down and before I knew it, I let my drunken exhaustion get the most of me.

…

[Veselle]

I felt cold and wet. My head was throbbing; my stomach felt like it was burning while tying in knots. My eyes hurt…why did my eyes hurt? When I tried to sit up, my stomach had other plans. With my lungs burning and a sickening smell in my throat that I could only believe to be stomach acid, I had only a few seconds to spin myself around before I threw up. Whatever was in me flew out my mouth. It took a few hurls to get it all out of me, but boy did I feel better.

The first thing I noticed was that I was wet. Why? I looked around and found myself resting inside the waterfall pool from earlier. How did I get here? What happened? Last thing I remembered Talvas fell onto a pressure plate and poisoned arrows flew across the room. One hit my neck… oh no. I had been poisoned. I reached for my neck to feel for the hole. I could still feel the bump where the dart had hit me. I should be dead. That poison felt like hell. And then something else entered me and just made me feel worse. I vaguely remembered Talvas opening my mouth and pouring this fiery stuff down my throat. It tasted awful, burned my throat and my stomach going down, and it made every inch of my body feel like it was warm and bubbly. He must have given me sujamma to help fight off the poison. How clever; fight poison with poison.

I started climbing out of the pool. As soon as I did I fell straight back in. My head spun in all directions; thumping deep behind my eyes while my skull felt like it was pulling apart in several directions at once. What the heck was going on with me? Splotches of green grew over my eyesight and I thought I was going to pass out for a second, my own breath short. I just sat in the cold water as I waited for the world to recollect itself again. I slowly crawled out of the pool and reached for the towel waiting for me. I found my robes not too far away, just tossed aside like they were nothing. Wait…if my robes were there…what was I wearing? I looked down to see myself in my undershirt and underwear. Well, I guess it was a good thing I wore these underneath my robes. I guess Talvas must have undressed me to keep me from overheating and then threw me in the pool to keep cool. He should have just let me sweat it out. I would have recovered eventually.

Speaking of Talvas, I could see that he was resting on the staircase, stretched out and snoring. I dried myself off and started slipping my robes back on. I had to change my underwear for drier pairs before I did that. I was amazed just how badly I was shivering. That water had been so cold. Without that Alteration spell to warm it up, that water was nearly freezing. It must have not taken long for my core temperature to drop inside it because everything was shaking. And the more this alcohol was wearing off, the more aware I was of how cold I really was. My body wasn't stiff because I was drunk; it was stiff because it was nearly frozen. Even though I was in fresh clothes, I was still cold. And I don't know if it was the alcohol or my freezing body that made me feel like it was ok to grab a blanket and curl up to Talvas, wrapping us both up as I lied down on top of him. He was warm…he was always warm. I curled around him with my arms and let myself fall asleep to the sound of his heartbeat.

I don't know how long I let myself lie like that but eventually he reached and tapped me on the shoulder. By then I was warming up and my head wasn't spinning nearly as bad. Talvas looked down at me with slightly confused eyes but he smiled. "I see you're awake. We should continue on. Just stick behind me the rest of the way."

I nodded and started getting off him. But as I started to stand up, I found myself curious about something. He tried to kiss me before, and I stopped him, even though I was pretty sure that I wanted it. So…I went for it. I pushed myself up against him and kissed him on the lips. He almost tried to push me off but he stopped before he actually could. Instead he wrapped me up and pulled me closer. His lips and tongue felt so welcoming me to me and I just got lost in all of it. My head was still spinning and I had this pulsing headache, but I didn't care for a few seconds. Just when I was starting to get lost in the kiss, Talvas pushed me off. I don't know why but I really wanted more so I started pushing in for more. He kept pushing me back. "Veselle, you're still drunk." His words were pretty lost on me. But he kept pushing me off, flicking me in the head with frost magicka as he did so.

We went on like that for a few minutes before my head really started to clear up. And when it did, I was happy Talvas had enough sense to keep pushing me off. I didn't realize I had started undoing his pants. Talvas had actually tied me up for a few minutes while he waited for my buzz to wear off. I don't remember when he did that either. There were some pockets of my memory missing. My head was throbbing now and my eyes hated the idea of staying open for too long. My throat was dry as all hell, and my stomach wanted something inside it; heck I don't even think it cared at this point. Just something really greasy.

Talvas was waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs. "Are you finally mentally ready?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I think so. I'm really thirsty though."

He nodded and pulled out a thermos. "Here, have some." He walked over and started undoing the ropes keeping me from charging into him. When the ropes slid off, I let myself relax. I didn't want him to tie me back up and I wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of kissing him or getting anything else from him either. I couldn't stop thinking about the kiss we did have though. It felt so good at the time, and it still did. I wondered if it would feel just as good right now. I didn't want to test the question though. I didn't need that type of relationship with him. I should just write it off as a onetime thing and let us get back to our lives. Once we were done with this quest, I was going to give him a concussion so that he'd forget any of this ever happened and I would just have to get Master to make me forget too. It was for the best of everything.

I looked up at him and then down to the thermos in his hands. "Is that your sujamma?"

He shook his head. "No it's juniper juice, but a good cure for a hangover is more alcohol if you're interested." He passed it to me. I took it from him and started chugging the thing. There was almost none left, but looking at the waterfall and fresh cold water…I think I knew what to fill my thermos with when I ran out. So, I cleaned the whole thermos and started filling it with water from the waterfall. "I'm sorry about earlier." Talvas said to me as I filled my thermos. "I was still pretty out of it, and you were so welcoming that…I didn't think."

Oh? We were going there? I guess we had to talk about it. "No problem. I was pretty out of it too. I had no idea how much you just don't care about that stuff when you're mentally impaired." I looked over at him. "Think of it as a…" How did I want to phrase this? "thank you for keeping me warm while I rested." I gestured to the pool. "You put me in freezing water. Once I woke up, I was freezing, and you're warm. I wanted to be warm too. The kiss was a thank you."

Talvas nodded slowly before turning around. "Well, let's continue." He stood up and started heading for the open door.

I ran up to join him, grabbing my staff as I did so. I followed behind Talvas as he led me into the room that almost killed me. He carefully stepped as far to the side of the hallway as possible so that even if he did fall, he wouldn't land on the pressure plate like he did before. I found myself standing behind him as closely as possible, holding onto his robes. I was half-tempted to hug him from behind but I forced myself to forget about it. I could let myself have some romance I guess; because I was going to make sure he'd forget it after all this was over. But…I'd still remember. It was better that I not push this any further. Things between us might get weird and I didn't really want that. I wanted us to be friends, not … something else.

We walked through the pathway to the left, walking along some small tunnel. Talvas, ahead of me was taking it quickly as he tried to get out. I could hear him gasping as he started speeding up. I think it was his claustrophobia. I raced to keep up with him and we found ourselves at a crossroads. To our left was a small room with a pedestal with what looked like a spell tome sitting on it. Talvas was leaning against a wall, taking deep breaths as he reached for his chest. His eyes were snapped shut and he slid down. "I need to sit for a second. That tunnel was…too enclosed for me." He pulled out his thermos and started chugging more sujamma. Jeez…how much of that stuff does he have?

I walked up to the altar. Indeed, there was a spell tome with an icicle embedded into the cover. I picked it up and waved it to Talvas. "Hey…there's a spell tome. Want it?"

He shook his head. "All yours." He replied. "Just let me sit for a sec."

I shrugged and rolled my eyes as I opened it up. Just like all the other tomes beforehand, the thing snapped open, flipping through pages upon pages of sigils and runes and circles. Everything recorded about this spell and how to make it was recorded. And instantly knowledge of Frost entered my mind, but it went beyond that. Muck like my firebolt spell, I got two for the price of one. I learned out how to form frost magicka as well as compact it into a spike to launch out. It was surprisingly similar to fire magicka, but… there was a huge difference. Fire magicka is fueled by determination, anger, by pure emotional fire…frost magicka is fueled by well… a lack of emotions. It's a cold indifference, a cold pain in your heart that can only be formed by pain and scars. In order to use Frost, I had to be put through pain. Well…if I wanted to learn it the old-fashioned way, the way it started. This tome taught me how to form it; I had to visualize it. It just grew stronger by control of my emotions, the cold hard emptiness of the tundra: frozen and controlled. I had to put myself in desolation. I could do that. I just had to think of my life in my house when my father was put in prison. My entire life was like that. And my time spent in Tel Mithryn.

My eyes cleared up and I found Talvas standing up from his spot. The tome turned to ash and fell through my fingers, turning to dust before it hit the ground. "What spell was it?" He asked me as he walked up to me.

"Ice Spike." I replied.

"Ouch." He called in return. "You know to use that spell you need to know emotional control right? It's not like your flames. You can't just get mad and scorch your opponents."

I nodded. "Yes, I get it. Zen-like emptiness with intent, right?"

He nodded. "Yes. It's hard during battle but once you get the hang of the battle meditation, you'll be set."

So…if flames were created by emotional overuse, and frost by emotional indifference. "What creates shock magicka?"

He looked at me and shrugged. "I don't know. Only Master knows about shock. He could tell you." He looked up at the altar on the floor above us. He patted me on the arm, gesturing me to look up. "See that? It's a soul gem on an altar. We should just take it out right now." His hands cooled and started forming into ice in his palm. I watched as the magicka in his hand formed into a spike and it launched off towards the gem. The gem shattered as the ice spike passed right through it. "There, one less trap to deal with." He grabbed my arm and pulled me to follow him. "Let's keep going. I'm guessing we need to be up there."

Well, since the whole room looked like it was a box trap with this one tome…I don't think we could do anything else down here. Might as well try it out. Right across from our little room was a spiral staircase leading up. Gee…I wonder where that went. Sarcasm.

We pretty much ran up the staircase up to the room above us. Talvas pulled me across the bridge leading us to the altar that housed the old soul gem. He continued pulling me as we raced through the room. "I'm so sick of being down here." He said to me as he continually pulled me along with him. I could barely keep up with him as he raced through the room. We barged right through another open door and Talvas suddenly stopped. I didn't get the message so I crashed right into him and he fell forward, and since he was still holding onto me, he pulled me too. I got a pretty good look from my fall. A 30 foot drop straight down. I felt my stomach cry out as my legs went numb. The world spun around me as the wind took me. And just as quickly as I fell, I jolted to a stop. Talvas was gripping hard onto my arm, actually holding me. I looked up to see him hanging onto the ledge we fell from. "I can't hold us, Veselle. Here." He gestured to the stream underneath us. "See that pool?" I could see a pool of water that looked pretty deep right underneath us.

"Haven't I gotten wet enough today?" I called up to him.

"Apparently not." He said and swung me out. He let go of my hand and I prepared myself for the fall. I fell pretty fast and I was heading right for the pool. It looked just deep enough to halt me with only a few broken bones.

"Use your fire to slow down!" He called to me.

And so I did. I let the fear of falling spread through me as I stuck my feet out. Fire roared out of my feet, throwing me up a little before I continued falling. By then I was only five feet up or something and so I gently landed in the water. I curled into a ball and held my breath as I crashed into the water. Just like last time, the water was ice cold and it forced every bit of air out of me. I gently bumped my butt at the bottom of the pool and pushed off with my feet. I broke the surface of the pool long enough to see Talvas falling right for me. I screamed as I dove back down and pushed myself as far to the bottom as I could. I heard and saw Talvas stir bubbles as he crashed into the pool. He collided with me and he pushed me right to the floor of the natural pool. He forced the air out of me, but he scooped me up and pushed us both up towards the surface. When we broke it, I took a deep breath and started beating on his arms. "You stupid! You could have killed me!"

He swam us out of the pool; meanwhile I was still punching and kicking him as he did so. When we got far enough away from the pool, he pulled off his backpack and opened it up. "Everything's soaked." He set the backpack down and looked at me. "Our spare pair of clothes are soaked too."

I felt a cold draft spread over me. "I can dry us." I said as I tore his bracelet off. "You threw me in 30 feet into a small pool…" Flames started forming around me, only growing stronger as I thought about the last few seconds. "and then you jumped in right before I could get away. You could have _killed_ me!" The flames only grew larger and I felt the heat of the flames over my body. I willed them to keep us safe but to dry us off. The flames responded to me. "You know what…I take back my kiss! You don't deserve it."

Talvas only sighed as he stepped up to me and rubbed his hands over the fire spreading my body. "I would explain what really happened but we need your flames so…" He reached up and pulled one of my twintails. "This is the temperature control, right? I pull on this twintail and the fire goes up, right?" Then he booped my nose. "Or is it in your nose?"

I felt so embarrassed and frustrated that the flames roared off my body like a wave. "Don't do that!" I said as I reached up at my nose.

"Ok, so it was the nose." He replied as the fire spread over him. And for the next few minutes he tried to keep me pissed off so that we could dry. I must admit…it worked. We dried off. By I was pooped. When we finally finished drying, he made me stop by saying, "Ok, so it's time for the truth." He looked at me and shrugged. "My hand slipped. When I flung you, my fingers slipped and I fell right behind you. I was able to push myself up into the air long enough to land a few seconds after you."

And it let my flames dry up. When they did we looked up at the doorway we fell from. There was no way we'd get back up there. 30 straight up into the air. "We're stuck down here…aren't we?"

Talvas sighed. "Let's look around first." He started walking around. I followed behind him.

We followed the small river up. We were in a large cavern; almost large enough to help Talvas with his claustrophobia. As we walked, we could see a very large doorway with a weird door and several red lines scattering around it. Bodies that looked a lot like draugrs littered the floor with a skeleton holding onto a journal lying in the middle of them. In the skeleton's hands were a large blood red claymore with spines along the blade and a dark brown leather-clad journal.

Talvas bent down to check out the sword while I reached for the journal. The cover read 'Property of Gratian Caerellius.' I held it up to Talvas. "We did it! We found the old guy's journal." I stood up and jumped with joy, whooping at my successive quest. "Take that, dead guys we killed to get here!" I opened up the journal and cleared my throat. "Let's see… 'I've been contracted to search the mine for potential risks for the East Empire Company. Blah, blah, blah." I said as I flipped through the pages, closing the journal behind me. "Ok. We got the right journal." I looked at Talvas. "We can go now." I pointed up the giant hole we fell through. "Nothing's getting through that doorway. We cleared as much as I think we needed to."

Talvas sighed. "Veselle…" He looked up at the hole. "WE can't get up there. We're…stuck." He looked around. "Maybe this door." He walked up to it and started knocking on it. "It's locked." He pushed on it. "Veselle, what's the journal say about it?"

I flipped open the journal and found a picture of the door and… the sword. I read the passage which basically said that the sword emits this red energy that waves off it and the door was covered in red energy similar to the blade, but…according to the journal, the old man couldn't figure it out. Jeez…red energy that streams off a blade and red lines that match the color of the energy of the blade? Wow…that's easy. "Hey Talvas? Try swinging the blade at the angle of those…red lines on the edges of the doorway. I think it's a puzzle."

He looked at the door. He shrugged and swung the blade. Nothing happened. "Nothing happened." He reported back to me.

"Put some balls behind it!" I yelled to him.

"What?" His face reddened and then turned around swinging the blade like he had a pair. Red energy collected around the blade, rolling off it like a crimson wave. The energy rolled through the sky with a cry similar to a banshee's final wail. The energy crashed into the red lines across the doorway. And just like that, the parts of the walls crashed down and new red lines formed both vertically this time. There was no way he'd get them both in one swing this time. Talvas fell to his knees, grabbing his sides in pain. "Wow…that really took it out of me."

I clapped my hands as I walked up to him. "Ok…now…do it two more times."

He sighed as he stood up. "Ok, but…first I need to eat something."

"Fine." I said as my stomach started grumbling. I needed to eat something too.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_And next chapter...big boss battle. If you've played this quest before, and I'm pretty sure the ones of you that actually review have played it because you remind me of things not to forget... then you know what's coming next. And do please keep reminding me of things not to forget; sometimes I get too caught up in my own head to remember what exactly comes next. That's why I'm focusing so hard on this quest right now and neglecting my other stories. If i even think about the Chronicles of Ruby or my Assassin's Den, I might forget what I wanted to do for this quest. So...I'm already starting on the next one while I'm on a roll. Enjoy.  
_


	13. Drunken boxing

**Cearbhail**:

___Yup, all done on the same day. Like I said, I wanted to get this done while I still had it going inside my head. I should be finishing this up next chapter. I could go into the whole fighting reavers thing but I don't think we really need to see more of that. They'll just talk about it in the journal entry when they go back to Crescius in Raven Rock. I'm really happy with this chapter. Got some great humor in, almost like the old days with the Chronicles of Lydia. Almost. Still not quite there.  
_

___Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
_

* * *

_Dear diary of shadows,_

_Today is still the 19th. We took a small break so I'm updating what we've done. Talvas stepped on a trap and poisoned me. Then he drugged me with alcohol and we almost had sex or something. I'd rather forget about it to be honest, but I thought I'd write it down so that I never will. I kissed him and that's when it almost went somewhere. But it didn't. We left to find the end of this place and it led us to a spell tome. I learned Ice Spike. Yay me! And then we fell down into a large cavern filled with a dead body, Crescius's great-grandfather's journal, a giant sword, and a doorway that can only be opened by the sword itself. The sword is a key! Just like in Pink Vs. Purple, one of my favorite shows on the crystal ball. It's about these soldiers fighting in Skyrim. Pink…representing the Legion, and Purple, representing the Stormcloaks. They pretty much make fun of war and fighting and stuff. This one guy has a giant glowing sword that was really a key…kinda like the part of the show that was about memory being the key. It's all weird. Anyway, Talvas is working on the doorway right now. I'm just sitting here because the sword is too heavy for me to even lift, let alone swing._

_Veselle._

_…_

I sat on my blanket while Talvas stood over the doorway, swinging the blade with everything he had. Red energy would fly off the blade, crashing into the doorway and then the section would fold in on itself and disappear, opening up another part to be slashed open. We'd been here for about an hour now and he was still going at it. Every time he swung that thing he needed a second to catch his breath before he could open the next section. The lines were getting pretty complicated now too. They started off as horizontal and then vertical, then diagonal. Now they were swirly and zigzaggy. To be honest, it was stupid to think that someone could create those waves. Apparently Talvas could. He manipulated the energy with his magicka. Go figure, right?

So, I sat here on my little blanket as I waited for Talvas to finish up with his new toy. "Take it, you bitch!" He screamed as he swung the sword again. A flimsy red beam rolled off the blade. It was barely even a blade at this point. He was just stretching to make a committed swing. Meanwhile, I was sitting on a blanket, eating a soggy apple. I couldn't help with the blade; I'm physically weak. That blade weighs 16 pounds, and even swinging that thing is enough to make me fall over backwards trying.

I would have one of my two spirits help, but they haven't called to me yet. They must still be recovering from their wounds. And without them, I'm rather useless. I hated being useless. I couldn't wait until we could get out of here. We found the journal, what more was left to get? That's when I felt the chill on my spine again. That feeling of calling. Whatever has been watching me this whole time was standing behind me…breathing on my neck again.

I quickly stood up and looked behind me. There was nothing standing there of course. This kept happening down here. There was something down here watching us, something calling us. It wanted me to find it. I…I think I needed to have it. The feeling was calling me towards the doorway. Whatever we wanted was behind the door. I could feel it gathering behind the door…some massive force that was calling to us. I felt the tremor down my spine and for a second I was happy Talvas hadn't opened the door yet. Something big was waiting for us and I didn't want to meet it.

"Got it!" Talvas cried out in joy as the door started splitting in half. He fell to his knees. "I'm all tapped out." He cried as he fell flat on his back.

I looked down at him. "Talvas, get up!" I felt that sickening energy overwhelm me and I knew whatever wanted to kill me waited on the other side of it. The doors hissed out as fresh air blew into the large chamber. I was all alone. I looked down at Talvas, who was still catching his breath…perhaps even sleeping. My spirits were still out cold. I was really on my own now. "Talvas, get up!" I screamed to him, but he didn't respond.

The entranceway was dark. I couldn't really see inside it, but I could still feel the energy calling to me; the darkness in the void reaching for me. It wanted me to join it in the void, to embrace nothingness. I brought my staff up and it started burning with intense flame sigils as I stepped up to the open doorway. I dropped my apple, holding onto my staff with both hands as I stepped up to the downed Talvas. He was only a few feet from me. Surely, if I just got to him and propped him up he'd be able to help me fight…whatever it was. I didn't see anything, but I could sure feel it.

I reached Talvas and reached down for him. I picked him up by his shoulders and leaned him up against me. I started slapping him on the cheek as he started looking up at me. "What is so important, Vess? I'm really exhausted. Can't I just have a moment?"

I sighed in relief. He was still awake. "Talvas…can't you feel that?"

He looked at me with curiosity. "Like when you could hear the ash talking to you?"

I shook my head. "No…" My voice sounded so broken with fear that I couldn't control it. "There's been this…darkness calling me this whole time." I nudged to the doorway. "It's waiting for us beyond this door."

He sighed as he pushed himself up. "Ok, I get it." He lifted the sword up and carried it with him as he looked at me. "Pack our bag. We're continuing on." He brought up his thermos and started drinking more sujamma. I rushed over to the bag and started packing up our stuff: the blanket, the apples. Once I had it all packed, I ran to catch up to Talvas, who waited for me by the doorway. He wasn't looking at me though. He was just standing there like he didn't know what to do. When I caught up with him, I understood why.

The entire room was nothing but swinging blades, smashing walls, collapsing ceilings, spikes flying out of the floor and walls in some random fashion, a massive lava pit, and a porch leading to a locked door with a cranky old Altmer woman knitting socks in her rocking chair. She had a cane with her. And I can tell she's that really old racist person who hates dark-skins like myself and would try to beat me up for coming up to her porch.

I looked at Talvas. "What the heck is this?"

"Fucked up." He replied. He turned to me. "Veselle, this may be just a hunch but…you're a marital artist."

"Yeah…"

"And there's this thing called drunken boxing…"

"yeah…"

"Do you think if we got you drunk that you'd be able to…ninja your way across this whole thing with some awesome drunken boxing stuff and just you know…pull that lever next to the racist old woman?" He pointed to the lever next to the grandma.

I…I don't even know how on nirn he thought I had been trained in drunken boxing. "So…because I can do some fancy marital arts, you think if I suddenly get drunk I'll turn into martial arts master Frankie Chin?" He's a famous Breton master of being really fast on his feet and drunk. He created drunken style.

Talvas held up his thermos of sujamma. "Worth a try…right?"

I looked at the thermos and then back at him. I scowled as best I could and walked up to the first trap. I timed it just right and got past the three spinning blades. I glanced back at him and cocked my shoulders and gave him a confident smirk. I was going to own this without his trash. "I think I can…" Four spikes came up all around me, scaring me so I jumped back, almost getting sliced by the three spinning blades in the process. They missed me by inches and I lost a small piece of my bangs. I sighed as I walked up to his thermos and grabbed it. I held my nose and started chugging it as fast as I could. If I was going to die down here, I'd better at least not be aware of it happening.

The world started spinning around me as my hands started tingling with a warm pulse. My head felt really…wobbly. And the floor was more like water in an active pool now, moving up and down like it was a tide. I walked up to the first trap and they seemed to dance around me and my body responded. I danced past the blades and up to the spikes. They came up all around me but I didn't really care about them. As they came close, my body treated it like someone was throwing a punch at me. I simply moved out of the way, throwing my arm up to defend myself like I was blocking a kick or something. As spikes came up underneath my feet, I felt them at the very second they came up and I just stepped out of the way. I laughed at the spikes as they tried to touch me. At one point I taunted them by yelling, "Can't tag me!" And then I got across the whole spikes trap without trying.

The collapsing walls, I vomited on them and then I hiccupped flames. They all blew up…the collapsing ceiling too. I walked past the rubble up to the lava floor. I felt a sneeze forming and I tried to rub my nose. It didn't work and then I sneezed. Frost flew out of my nose, strong enough to cool the magma into a nice floor. I strolled across it before it thawed or melted, whatever it would have done. I danced around more swinging and spinning blades. I think I actually grabbed onto one of the spinning blades, put my feet on it, and rode it a few times before jumping off onto a swinging blade. It swung me across towards the old woman and I jumped off, landing near her porch.

"Get away from my porch before I call the police!" She waved her cane at me. I grabbed onto the railing and started climbing up the staircase. She was still yelling at me, calling me nasty words that were offensive to Dunmer, and throwing her slippers at me. "Get off my porch, girl, or I'll whip your butt." She tried to say but her fake teeth popped out.

I pointed to the lever and said, "Can I…can I…_hick_…. Do you have any noodles?" I asked as I reached for my stomach, it grumbled in reply. "I'm so hungry for noodles." Why was I thinking of noodles? I came here for a reason…which was… I reached in for her face. "You're so wrinkly…and yellow. You're really old, you know that?" It was a legitimate question. She was old, and she might not know that.

She scowled at me. "Get off my porch." She swung her cane at me and for a second my lightning martial arts came through. My knees gave out and the cane passed over my head. I felt my stomach turning and I hurled on the old woman's face. She looked horrified and she looked up at me like I had just told her the world was ending. As I stood up, I needed something to brace against as I pulled myself up. My hand found the lever and as I pulled myself up, I pulled it down. And just like that, the old woman dissolved, with the rest of the illusion of the front porch. The lava cooled down, all the blades disappeared…the walls and ceilings were still blown up from where I destroyed them.

Talvas ran up to me, waving. "Good work, Veselle!" He said as he ran up. "We should keep that as our back-up plan for now on. You were so cool!"

I felt really happy that he complimented me, so I smiled at him. "I love you so much." I said as he caught up to me. I threw my arms around his neck. "You're so nice to me, and always watching out for me. I love you, dude." I had no idea what I was saying right then but I reached up and kissed him on the cheek. "You're my best friend in the whole world. I love you so much."

Talvas didn't reply but pulled me with him. "Ok, Veselle. Let's get this over with and get you some fresh air. We both need a break after this." The room was still spinning for me and I felt sick to my stomach, but I could see a massive pool in a huge room supported by many pillars and a massive wall with a dragon's head at the end of the room. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I could feel something calling for me but I couldn't tell what or where it was.

I pulled on Talvas's tunic and gestured to the massive pool. "Look…a pool. Let's take a bath together like we did earlier. This time without a wall."

He chuckled lightly and patted me on the head. "You're cute when you're drunk, but no."

I kicked him in the balls and he collapsed underneath me. I started dragging him to the pool. "We're taking a bath." I mumbled as I dragged him behind me. I don't know why I was so adamant about taking a bath with him or why he wouldn't join me, but it seemed like it would be nice to have company while I cleaned my body from all the vomit that splashed on me when I vomited on the old woman. And I bet he was sweaty from swinging that massive blade around all day.

As we got near the bath, I saw someone else had a similar idea. This really, really old person wearing this mask that looked weird to me was lying belly up in the middle of the pool. As we got close, he stood up and turned to greet us with a hug. "Hi, hobo guy. Can we join you in the bath?" I waved to him.

Talvas stood up and looked at the guy stretching out his staff to greet us. So, the guy was a mage? That was pretty cool. Maybe he was a Telvanni Lord? Right as the guy started greeting us with a wave of shock magicka from his staff, Talvas crashed into me, tackling me to the ground. He pressed down on top of me and I pulled on him. "Are you sure you want to do this in front of him?" I said as I started reaching for his pants.

"What?" He cried before he pushed himself off me. He sighed as he stood up. "Veselle…this is not the time to joke like that." He pointed to the hobo mage with the mask. "This is a dragon priest. An ancient spellcaster that fought in the dragon wars. He's trying to kill us!"

That's when I snapped into fighter mode. I jumped right onto my feet. "He's a peeping tom! He wanted to watch me bathe!"

Talvas sighed. "Yes, he's a peeping tom and he wants to see you naked."

Flames erupted all over my body. "Veselle smash!" I cried as I pulled up my staff. I felt the flames roll off me but they seemed…woozy? They scattered all around the room but not actually hitting the floating hobo ghost person. The floor underneath me wobbled and I lost my footing. I fell to the left and a blinding white flash flew right past my head. Talvas roared as he jumped over the banister into the water. I watched as he brought that sword straight down, the red energy growing so bright that I thought it was ruin our bathing pool. The hobo ghost person stuck out his hand and caught the red beam as it fell on him. The beam split in two, barely scratching the thing. Talvas fell into the water and I stood up to follow him. I started pulling off my robes to join him in the bath. "Wait for me, Talvas." I whined. And then I looked at the ghost peeping hobo and put my robes back down. I stuck out my tongue, saying, "I'm not taking off my clothes while you're still living!"

He started shooting more lightning at me and I lost my balance on the floor. As I swayed, lightning danced all around me, and I felt the sparks tingling on my skin. Some of it zapped across my head and it was an instant sobering effect. The world stopped spinning, and I stopped thinking like a drunken baby. Talvas was climbing out of the pool, and there was a floating ghost thingy looking right at me with a glowing staff. That feeling that energy watching over me was growing again and it was swirling around this dragon priest thingy. I felt scared to my core as I felt it powering up. It launched its lightning at me and I stuck my hands out, summoning a protective ward in front of me. The ward took the brunt of the hit but the lightning was so strong that it broke through my ward like it was nothing. The force of the explosion threw me off my feet. I flew backwards landing on my back. In that split second I hit the ground, a wave of lightning washed over top of me, hitting the wall behind me. I could see the scorch mark and the part of the wall that had broken apart from the impact. If I got hit by that…I wouldn't be able to talk about it later. I'd be dead.

Talvas leapt out of the water, his entire body covered in frost magicka. It was flying around him like a protective shell. "Veselle! Use your Flame Cloak!"

"My what?" I called from the flat of my back.

"Summon your flames around you as a protective aura. It will help you block some of the shock magicka."

I took a deep breath and let my fear build my flames around my body. Fire started pouring out of me and I willed it to cyclone around me like a rotating shield. And it slowly started building. And once I felt the spell pop into place, I knew it would hold. I stood up and readied my staff. I visualized several firebolts and I didn't hold anything back. "Talvas, you better run! I'm not holding back!" And I let them fly to the floating monster.

"Shit…" Talvas cried as he dove under water right as the firebolts all collided with the monster. There was a series of serious explosions that almost threw me off my feet as water evaporated into steam. A thick cloud of steam rolled over me and I thought my eyes were going to burn off. I thought for certain that I killed the thing, but I knew better than assume of anything. And through the steam I could see something floating in the middle of the room. There was a glow and I felt a spike in energy. I jumped to the side right as a bolt of lightning rolled past me. It grazed across my flame aura and died off as it did so. So…this would protect me after all. That was good news. I brought my staff up and focused my flames on it. The staff started glowing with red flame sigils and I let it roar towards the monster. I didn't know where Talvas was, but he could take care of himself by now.

My flame cyclone rolled right off my staff through the thick mist and over to the shadowy monster. The flames rounded into a ball at the monster, like he was catching my attack. My flames started dying down and I didn't have anything left. My staff died down and my aura started falling as well. I was actually running out of magicka energy. My ball of flames was dying down, torn apart by the dragon priest. I couldn't really see what was going on through the mist, but I could see my ball of flames being torn apart by some shadowy figure, and it looked like a floating ghost. Then more lightning launched at me. I ducked to the side; more launching at me where I was standing. I jumped back doing a backflip. Lightning rolled all across my spread limbs, barely missing me. Then something hit me square in the back and my entire body just went cold. My arms gave out and I hit the floor pretty hard. My body spasmed a few times and I pretty much went brain dead.

I struggled to sit up but it was like when Master blasted me with lightning earlier. My body was in shock. I managed to grip the floor in front of me and I started pulling myself towards my staff. The dragon priest was moving somewhere in the mist where he could see me better. Lightning flashed off its staff, hitting everything around me. The floor around me shattered as the lightning broke it loose. Bits and pieces of the floor flew around me and I grabbed my head as I tried to hug the ground as much as I could. I curled up in a ball as lightning blasted every bit of the floor around me. I screamed as more lightning crashed into my hand. I felt that bitter sting roll all around inside me. My vision blurred and I almost passed out.

The room suddenly started getting colder and colder. The mist covering the room started turning into drops of water that were freezing the suspended air. I felt magical power I had never felt before. It felt like a frozen tundra. "You shouldn't have made her scream." I heard Talvas say from near the wall with the dragon. He was standing there, whipping up a massive snow storm around him. I don't know how long he had been charging it up, but it looked ready. I could see the glow of frost magicka in his eyes; his entire body covered in a light layer of ice and snowflakes. The monster turned to face him. "You shouldn't remind me of her!" Talvas screamed and threw his hands forward.

I felt a wave of pure cold overwhelm me. All the drops of frozen water started morphing into icicles. They all started aiming at the monster. With a wave of his hands the icicles all launched at once at the monster. I watched as the thing was pelted with icicles large enough to impale a mammoth. The thing had so much ice through it that nothing could have lived through it. The creature didn't seem so impressed through. Lightning surged through its body and all the ice instantly evaporated.

The monster warmed up lightning in its staff and launched it at Talvas. He stuck his own hand up and formed a shield spell. The lightning crashed against it but the shield didn't break. Talvas actually tipped the shield to the side and the lightning just rebounded off into a wall. He held the shield on his forearm like an actual shield. Why hadn't I thought of that? I guess I wasn't just that type of fighter. Not yet at least. Talvas had experience, more than I did at least. The red sword in Talvas's hands started glowing with bright red energy and he started swinging away as much as he could. Red waves of energy roared through the room, brighter than any I had seen before.

The monster started floating around the lines of energy, almost like he was teleporting. He did that until he got up to Talvas and grabbed him by the throat. He brought the staff up to him and released a whole load into his gut. Talvas cried out in murder as he was launched from the dragon wall. He flew across the entire room, crashing near me and rolling into the scorched wall behind me. He wasn't moving at all. I think he was dead. I looked back at the monster to see that Talvas's thermos was sitting in front of me. It must have rolled out of his pack when he crashed into the ground. I thought of my drunken style and I reached for it. It could be my only chance. I hope there was still enough sujamma left. I caught the lid and pulled it to my mouth. I flipped myself on my back and thumbed the lid off. I didn't have time to aim the cup over me. I just let the sujamma fall over my face and hoped some of it entered my mouth. I wasn't expected a non-ending river of sujamma to wash over me. I got more than enough to numb my whole body. Whatever was inside me earlier started acting up and this current batch was only helping me along. I lost all sense of pain and all sense of my body.

I rolled from my back onto my feet, doing some sort of break dance on the way up. I looked at the thermos of sujamma. It was still full. Leave it to Talvas to think of something like this. This lightning might be able to block my drunken mind, so I would just have to hold onto this. I took another sip and felt the warmth of it wash over me. My brain cells were going to give me hell over this later. I closed the lid and looked back at the floating ghost thingy. It was staring at me through its mask. "You…you meanie. You hurt my friend. I'm going to…where's my bath water?" I looked down at the evaporated pool. "You…you took my bath water away. I…I really wanted to take a bath, and YOU RUINED IT." I screamed as flames started rolling off my body.

White flashes started flying towards me. They blinded me so I stepped away. I felt the white flashes of lightning fly all around me, but I was able to feel them coming. My loose legs started dancing me over to the thing while lightning flashed all around me. I found myself dancing through entire streaks and waves of lightning as I came up to the monster. I didn't have much magicka left, but I had my wits. Ok…I'm drunk; I have no wits. But I had my fists and my staff. When I got within striking range of my staff, I jumped to the side as the monster rolled a giant stream of lightning in front of me. I rolled right under it like I had practiced with Mjoll. I had these moves drilled into me so much that my muscles had them all memories and my relaxed mind had no time to hesitate and consider other methods of fighting. My mind thought and my muscles obeyed. This was drunken boxing; I understood it.

I came up right underneath the arm holding the staff and I brought my staff right down on top of it. I hammered the arm so hard that the arm snapped and the staff fell from his hands. I seemed to grab onto the staff and I raised it to the monster's face. The staff glowed white and it launched right into the thing's face. It cried out in horror as the lightning consumed the thing's head. When the smoke cleared, it was reaching out for my chest. I instinctually brought my own staffs down in a defensive block. I jumped up, kicking the thing in the head.

"You meanie…trying to touch me." I said as I covered my chest. "You pervert!" I tried to kick him in the balls like I did Talvas earlier, but he didn't even lave legs. It snapped its bony arm out and grabbed my personal staff. "Oh…you wanted my staff. Well…I want that mask." I dropped the staff and reached up for his mask. "I'll trade you. My staff for your mask." And I pulled it off his head. "Let's see who's under that mask. Brynjolf, is that you?" There was nothing but a draugr's head underneath the mask. His head looked so ashen and old that I couldn't believe this thing was even alive. "Ooh…you're an ugly one. I've kissed worse." I said as I leaned up to him. "Talvas." I pointed back to him. I leaned in and kissed the thing on the cheek. "You definitely feel cold and old."

There was a loud moan and the monster's face started falling apart like it was made from ash. The whole body followed suit and the whole thing fell apart in my arms. I looked at the mask. Hmm…maybe this was the worse of its magical powers? Or did my kiss kill it? I didn't know. But I suddenly felt like I needed to rinse my mouth out with more sujamma. So, I took another hit and swished it around my mouth a few times before spitting it out onto the ashes of the dead monster. "There…one for my homie." I pounded my chest a couple times before turning to look at Talvas. "Hey, honey-bunny. I have a mask…and a new staff. And my old staff…and…are you listening to me?" I whined to him as I walked over to him. "Wakie wakie, I want eggs and bacy."

By the time I got up to him, I felt like sitting down for a few minutes. "Ok…I'm tired." I looked for our backpack and started pulling out the blanket. I dragged it over to Talvas and lied down on top of him. He was still breathing, so I was glad he was still alive. "Good nighty night." I said as I kissed him on the cheek. "Hmm…think I preferred the monster." That was the last thought before I passed out.

…

"Veselle…" I felt a shake on my shoulder. I felt that headache again and my eyes throbbed. "Get up. That thing might still be here."

I knocked his hand away. "No, I killed it." I gestured to his thermos in my hands. "Drank more stuff to do it. Need water; go get me some."

He nodded. I heard him walking around. Next thing I know, he's prodding me in the shoulder. "You smell like sujamma. Did you pour it all over yourself or something?"

"Or something." I replied as I sat up and took the thermos handed to me. My head rolled with the room and I felt that splitting thing again. "Last time I do that…ever." I screwed off the lid and downed the whole thing. It felt good to have real liquids inside me. I stuck out my hand and waited until Talvas helped pull me up. I found my two staffs with the mask I collected from the thing. "I have a new staff now. It shoots powerful lightning from it.

He nodded. "I know…I was on the receiving side of it." He reached down for his robes and I could see the giant hole in his robes. I could see his perfect abs. They were lightly charred from the hit, but I could see the marks fading away. He must have been using Restoration magic.

I sighed a relief. That thing that I managed to kill must have been the source of that dark magic I felt. And just as I let my guard down, I felt a very powerful brush against my neck, like someone had just licked me back there. I turned around and found my eyes drifting to the doorway leading to some staircase. The…whatever it was was calling me. I nodded to Talvas. "I feel that…energy again. It's here. Right…" I pointed to the doorway. "in there."

He took the sparky staff and handed me mine. He got in front and started carefully walking up to the exit. I followed behind him with the backpack. Once I got to see around the edge, I could see the source of all those bad feelings. It was a book sitting on a pedestal. It seemed to be radiating with black magicka; something so foul that I didn't even want to touch it. Talvas seemed to have no regard for its power though. "Is this what you were talking about?" He walked right up to it and picked it up.

He started reaching for the cover and I screamed, "Talvas, don't!" He snapped it shut again, and I ran up to him. "Just throw it in the bag. We'll take it back to Master and have him check it out." Talvas tossed it inside the bag and zipped it shut.

He looked over at me. "I can feel air, Veselle…coming from this stairwell leading up. I think we're close to an exit."

"Oh thank the gods!" I cried and ran into his arms. "Let's just get out of here!"

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_I like this whole drunken boxing Veselle stuff. Might use it more. Not sure. we'll find out. And someone brought up something about a mask. I legitimately freaked out about the mask. i was like 'what mask'? I never knew anything about a mask! And then I thought about the dragon priest. Oh yeah...they all wear masks. Not a big matter for me, I guess. I never really cared about them, but it made an interesting way for Veselle to kill it. yay!  
_


	14. New steward

**Cearbhail**:

___Yup, another chapter done. And it will be the last one for a while. Need to catch up on the other stories, you know? Don't worry, maybe a week, maybe less. Anyway, I had fun with this chapter. Another new character...well, a few actually. Ok, a lot of new characters. Some will stay, some will...well...be in Raven Rock. Oh, you'll understand.  
_

___Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
_

* * *

_Dear diary of shadows,_

_It's like midnight. The sun has already set and we've just arrived back to Raven Rock. We managed to escape the mine alive. After Talvas took care of me and treated my poison, we ran into a doorway we needed to get past. He managed to open the doorway up and we found a trap hallway. Talvas got me drunk and I found out that when I drink alcohol I'm basically a badass martial artist…I mean more than I already am of course. I pretty much danced around the room filled with traps and I don't really remembered what happened, but next thing I knew we were fighting this ghost thing with a weird mask and a powerful staff which is now my staff. I got myself drunk again and beat the crap out of it, I think. I don't know, it's really fuzzy. But I woke up and Talvas was already up on his feet ready to go. We collected this really weird book that I want Master to look it. It seems to vibrate with dark magicka and I don't like it. I think he'd be better looking at such a thing._

_Well, we found a staircase that led up. It led us right to some reaver lair. Talvas really wanted inside so he took the fight right to them when they tried to tie us up and do stuff to us, mostly me. Talvas tore them up and I kicked several of them in the balls. All in all, it was a pretty quick defeat. And I got to test my new staff out on a Reaver Lord. That was fun. Melted his head right off his shoulders. We ran from the camp and found ourselves on the shoreline. We swam for a bit to get away from some distant archers shooting at us. Once we got away, we could see Raven Rock. And now…we're finally back. I can't wait to go home and get this over with._

_Veselle._

_…_

Raven Rock was all in a buzz by the time we entered the bulwark. Redoran guards ran up to greet up, hands armed with swords and shields. There were easily more than we could handle. The Redoran guards rushed up to us, their shields raised. I backed up, bumping into Talvas's back. "Talvas?"

He grabbed me by my shoulder and gave me a reassuring squeeze. "I don't think they're here to hurt us, Vess." He said. "They would have just shot us with arrows."

The guards surrounded us, and the ones behind us but their backs to ours. One of the guards pulled out a crystal ball and waved his hand over it. "Sir, we've got them. They're safe."

"Great. Bring them to the mine." I heard Captain Veleth's voice through the ball.

"What's going on?" I asked the guards surrounding us.

One of the guards looked down at me. "We're on full alert. We've been attacked the past three days by ash spawn and ash guardians. We were told to give you a full escort to the mine when you got here." The guards rushed as they led us straight to the mine. Several other guards rushed up to the bulwark, pulling out their weapons. "And if you think we're worse off…Tel Mithryn was attacked last night."

"It was?" Talvas asked. "Was anyone hurt?"

The guard nodded. "The steward was out collecting some canis root for Master Neloth…she was killed before the attack started. Then something happened, and Lord Neloth came out to investigate. He took the fight to them. He can tell you more."

I felt the book in my backpack hiss with enjoyment. It wanted war…something to confuse us and make us run around in circles. I couldn't explain it but…I felt like this book was a piece of whatever was going on around here. I looked over at Talvas. "This book…it seems pleased by what happened at our town."

Talvas glanced at me skeptically. "A book? Veselle…it's a _book_."

"It's an _evil_ book." I said to him as I looked back at the guards. "Is Master Neloth here?"

The guard nodded. "He came here to find you. He tried to call you but there was some interference on your crystal ball. He came to collect you and bring you back for battle."

Battle? But…if he was here, who was guarding Tel Mithryn? The guards led us right up the staircase leading to the mine. The lead guard nodded to us and opened the mine door behind us, ushering us inside. He closed the door behind us. I saw Crescius standing over a table with Master Neloth. They were both looking over some map of the tunnels underneath the mine. "This is where I heard the girl scream." Crescius pointed to somewhere on the map.

"I think I understand. I will go on and bring them back." He looked up from the map. He turned for the mine, but once the door clicked shut, he turned to look at us. He sighed with relief. I could see six staffs all strapped to his back. I could see the scarring on his cloak. He looked like he hadn't slept in well…ever. Which he doesn't so he didn't really look all that different. "Veselle, Talvas? You are unharmed?" I smiled as I ran up to Master Neloth, wrapping him up in a hug. He begrudgingly hugged me back, tapping me on the back awkwardly. "There, there. You're still alive."

"Master!" I started crying into his chest. "It was so horrible. Can I please make Talvas forget the whole thing?"

He looked down at me, eyes wide. "You want to…erase Talvas's memory, not your own?"

I nodded. "We did things I'm not proud of."

Master sighed. He stuck out his hands, warm magic glowing in them. He placed his hand on my head and I felt him scanning my memories. I started reliving all the things I did when I was drunk. I didn't know I did even half of that. He pulled his hand off me and stuck his hand at Talvas. Before he could do anything, Master shot a green orb at him. It smacked Talvas right in the head and he took a step back. He reached for his head. "Ow…" He shook the green mist away. "Why do I feel like I've forgotten something?"

Master looked down at me and then over to Talvas. "I have hidden some of Veselle's more…embarrassing acts from your memory of the quest." He said and turned to face Crescius. "It would seem that my students have successfully cleaned out the mines."

I nodded. "We killed all the bad things." I pulled my backpack down and pulled out Gratian's journal. "Here is your ancestor's journal." I tossed it to him and he caught it. He opened it up and started reading.

"It would seem that the Company hid Gratian's death and blamed it on the mine's collapse. I guess this means the mine is safe to use again. Great…I'll start getting some miners ready to mine the ebony from inside it." Crescius smiled and bowed slightly to me. "Thank you, little girl. Because of you, Raven Rock is not dead yet."

I turned to Master and reached into my backpack. "Oh, Master. There is something I want to show you."

"Not more memories, I hope." He mumbled as I pulled out the blackish book. His eyes showed some surprise as he reached down to take the book. Once he grabbed onto it, I felt a shift in the book's evil energy. It was screaming in both pain and in joy. Master smirked. "Where…oh where…did you find this?" His voice was faint, like he was lost in his own world. "This…I've never felt any tomes like this before." He looked up at me. "This is very dangerous magic you've discovered. Did you open it?"

I shook my head. "No…It felt wrong."

He nodded. "Wrong indeed. But wrong can still mean powerful and resourceful." He held it in his hands and ran his hand over the leather cover. "Such power and knowledge behind this cover." He fuddled with the book, obviously considering opening it up. He finally sighed and stuffed it back in my bag. "Get that home and put that on my desk. I need to do some research before I commit myself to reading that thing. Actually…" He scratched his chin. "I've seen a book just like that one. In Nchardak." He looked at me. "Veselle, hand me the book. I will go home and prepare for our trip to Nchardak."

"_Our_ trip?" I asked as I pulled out the black book and handed it to him.

Master nodded, taking the book from me. "Yes. It will be a great test of our newest resident, as well as the two farmer kids that want to be students. This new boy is a prodigy like yourself. He's studied magicka in Summerset Isles at the Resonance Institute and heard that I was looking for Telvanni mages. He asked his parents to come train under me. They accepted and I welcomed the boy with open arms. He truly is an interesting one to talk to. I put him in your room until I get done with his room."

"_My_ room?"

Master nodded. "Is there an echo in this place? Yes, _your_ room."

"But…you saw my memories. And you want to put some boy in my room?"

He nodded. "Are you planning on getting drunk and having your way with him? Are you really that susceptible to your base urges? I have no doubt he won't bother you. You'll see. He's…well…he's special."

"_Special_?" What the heck did that mean?

Master sighed. "Well, Veselle. I need to get back to Tel Mithryn and study this book. I will see you at home. But…before you come back, I do have an assignment. I need a new steward. Go find me one. Don't return home until you do. Oh…and make sure they can make a great cup of canis root tea. Oh…and there is one more thing. Tel Mithryn and Raven Rock have been warred upon by the ash spawn. The attacks have increased and I fear that it will only get worse. I may have to put more of my time, my daughter's, and Talvas's on finding out where they are coming from and how to get rid of them. Until such time is passed…you will be on independent study. Do be careful coming home. If you feel the last ash guardian was hard to defeat…wait until you face three at once as I have just coming down here." He didn't wait as he turned to the doorway. He looked back at me and then over to Talvas. "Good work you two. Talvas, you've had a long day. You are on official break. Please use your time repairing your damaged liver with Restoration magic. Take a look at Veselle's whole body if you can. Her liver and brain may have suffered a great defeat…as well as her stomach."

Talvas nodded. "Yes, sir." Master closed the door behind him, leaving me alone with Talvas and Crescius. Talvas looked at me, arching an eyebrow. "What happened down in the mines that you had to have my memories removed?"

I stuck my tongue out. "You'll never know. And you're lucky; if Master didn't do it…I would have done it with my _fists_. I would have beaten your head in until you forgot."

He sighed. "Was I so drunk that I started making out with you?" My face blushed so quickly that he nodded and turned to leave. "Ok…well, sorry I did that. It's hard when you're so cute." He pinched my cheek and I punched him in the side. He grunted and started walking for the door. "Good luck replacing Verona." He turned and left through the door behind him. "I'll see you back at Tel Mithryn." He said to me as he closed the door behind him.

I looked at the old man and crossed my arms. "You almost killed me with that key."

He shrugged. "Sorry?"

I nodded. "Accepted." I snapped around and walked through the door, slamming it behind me. The guards stood by the door, their swords out and ready for whatever may come. I saluted the guards, saying, "Good job, soldiers. Mission: Protect cute little girl accomplished. Return to your bunks and take a nap."

One of the guards looked at the others, snickering. "Maybe we should recruit her as our squad leader."

Another guard looked down at me. "You are still on alert watch, Veselle. Those reavers know what you look like…and if there is a Telvanni witch out there collecting bodies…she may want yours next. We're here to protect you." I guess that made sense, but I didn't want them following me all day.

"Well…just walk around town and keep suspicious people from causing trouble." I sighed as I walked down into the market square. It was in the middle of the night so…everyone was asleep. I looked back at the guards, sighing. "Ok…I'll admit, it's creepy out here. Um…go ahead and keep watch over me. Are you guys going to escort me home too?"

They nodded. "We are your assigned body squad. We're team Alchemy. Team Battle will replace us at 0600." The guard with the red painted band around his shoulder said as he pounded his chest. That red ring on his right shoulder plate probably meant that he was the squad leader or something. I really didn't know.

I nodded to the leader. "Ok…thanks. Any of you guys know someone who would like to become Master Neloth's steward?"

They shared a look for a second before they busted up laughing. "See, we _should_ recruit her! She'd just make our lives so much easier." I puffed my cheeks in fake anger and I tapped my foot in the ash of the ground. The same guard looked at me, putting his hand up. "Sorry, Veselle. It's just…there is no one in town crazy enough to put up with him."

"Well…I can't return home until I find someone. And that means I'll have to buy a home here and put everyone in constant trouble since I can't control my flames yet. I could get emotional and blow up half the town." I said in fake horrified pout.

The leader sighed. "Try in the Retching Netch. Bet someone there is drunk enough to say 'yes'."

And so I did just that. I sighed as I stepped into the Retching Netch. It was an inn…as well as a cornerclub. People were sitting in the tables, all drinking something with alcohol in it. Probably sujamma…or flin. I didn't really care to be honest. I looked around. There was some guy dressed in full chitin armor. He just sat there, staring at me through his traveling turban chitin mask, complete with an ash filter. There was a screen so tiny weaved that it kept all the ash from entering his breathing tube. And there was a hole underneath it where all the ash fell when he exhaled. It was one of our better ideas throughout our time living in ash storms.

Sitting at another table was this richly dressed Orc with a brute-looking Dunmer standing near him. I didn't know much about him, but I got a certain look in his eyes that told me I should stay away from him. I decided to take my chances with the masked chitin merc. I waved to him and walked up to him. I bowed to him, gesturing to the chair. "Mind if I sit?" He waved me to join him and dipped his head in respect to me. I pulled a stool out and jumped up. He waited there, still looking at me. I waited for him to say something, but he never did. "I have a question." He didn't move anything, but he did start tapping his finger on the table, like he was starting to get impatient. "Um…my name is Veselle Tenvanni. I'm an apprentice to Lord Neloth, over at Tel Mithryn. It would seem that his steward was killed by ash spawn. Master Neloth wanted me to find a replacement for her. Would you…um…be willing to…you know…take her spot?"

He looked at me and then reached into his pocket. He pulled out a pad and a quill. He dipped his quill in an ink pot sitting on the table. He started writing on his pad. He tore a page off and handed it to me. I held it up and read it. _I'm not steward material. I'm a soldier; a mercenary. If you need a guard, I will be more than willing to assist._

I nodded to him. "Well, I'm sure we could use one now that we've been attacked more. Mind coming back with me to talk to Master Neloth about it?" He nodded and stuck out his hand for a handshake. I shook on it. "Ok, I'm going to go find a steward now. I'll be back once I find him or her." He nodded and I wrote out on his pad again. He pulled it off and passed it to me. _My name is Teldryn Sero. It is a pleasure to meet you, Veselle Tenvanni._ I bowed to him and stepped away from his table. I looked down the stairs and heard someone laughing down there. So, I went down the stairs, finding a whole other level down here. People were drinking, singing, and dancing. I noticed some of the people from town dancing and drinking sujamma. It seemed like a fun time and I really wanted to join them. The problem was that I really wanted to get home and collapse on my bed.

I walked through the dancers up to the bartender. He eyed me as I sat down. "I need some help."

He blinked while he wiped down a shot glass. "I can't serve you, if that's what you mean. You're just a child."

I chuckled and shook my head. "I've already crossed that bridge last night. I've drank enough to put everyone here under the table twice."

"You probably shouldn't do that." He admitted and handed me a shot glass. "Want some non-alcoholic cider?"

I shrugged. "Sure. But…" He poured me a glass of cider and passed it to me. "I'm really here to find a steward for Mater Neloth."

The bartender nodded. "Everyone comes here with some sort of sob story; I guess you gave up when no one would take you up on the offer?"

I shook my head. "I only just started. Know anyone who would…you know…put up with him?"

"Besides you?" He asked sarcastically. He turned around and looked at some guy stocking the shelves with flin and sujamma. "Hey, Drovas! Didn't you want to serve the Telvanni Lord Neloth?"

He turned and nodded. "Of course, sir! It was always my dream to serve the man that saved my life the night of the Argonian raid."

The bartender pointed to me. "Today's your lucky day. Lord Neloth needs a new steward. Think you can handle that?"

Drovas smiled, jumping up and down…basically fanboying all over the place. "Oh my gods, oh my gods… can I? Can I really?" He asked as he ran up to me, grabbing both my hands and squeezing them. He jumped up and down while clamping down on my hands, squeezing them like…well, I don't have anything to compare it to, sorry. Was he being sarcastic…or was he being serious?

He looked so enthusiastic, that I looked away, squinting at him. "Are you serious?" He nodded, so I looked back at him. "Ok…but before I say 'yes.' Can you make canis root tea?"

He nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, yes, a thousand times YES!" He screamed to the ceiling and I looked back at the bartender. The bartender shrugged and I got the feeling he was saying, 'He's your problem now.' Great…but…I kinda like this energy he has. If he maintains this enthusiasm, life at the Telvanni mushroom town would be so much…well…lively.

I looked back at Drovas and forced a large smile. "Ok…you're in. Come with me; I'll take you back to Tel Mithryn with…um…our new guard." I tried to reach for my glass of cider, but Drovas grabbed my hand and pulled me upstairs. He actually tried to rush me because he wanted to move into the steward's house as soon as possible. I reached out for my glass of cider, wishing it a great journey to find someone worth drinking it. Drovas pulled me to the exit and I looked over at Teldryn and waved him to join us. He stood up from his table, securing his elven blade to his belt and jogging to catch up with us. The Redoran guards outside were still waiting for me. When Drovas pulled me outside, he started pulling me towards Tel Mithryn. I looked back at Teldryn and the guards. "Ok…we're going back to Tel Mithryn now. Hope everyone is ok with that."

The walk back to Tel Mithryn was harder than it normally was. Ash spawn would pop out of the ground and shoot balls of ash at us. I got to see the Redoran guards do their jobs. Three of them took out their bows and started shooting arrows at the monsters. The other three drew their swords and charged in. I took off my two staffs and put Drovas behind me. "Stay behind me. You're my ticket home to my bed. So…stay here." I stood by and let the guards do their job.

Teldryn unsheathed his elven blade and walked in front of me. He handed me a slip of paper. _My payment for my services to House Telvanni is to become a full member of House Telvanni. Agreed?_

I shrugged. "You have to speak to Master Neloth about that." Teldryn nodded and brought his sword up into the air. Magicka started glowing around his body, collecting into his blade. His blade started shooting lightning all around until it covered the whole blade. He pushed off the ground, disappearing into this really fast sprint that I could barely track. A trail of ash flew up right behind him like a giant wall. He reappeared behind a couple ash spawn. He spun his sword and the lightning rolled off his blade like I saw with the red blade Talvas collected earlier. His blade seemed to disrupt the ash in the ash spawn. They started falling apart long enough for him to reach and grab the heart stones. He flashed from one opponent to the next, each one falling underneath his blade like it was nothing. He helped the Redoran guards mop up the remaining heart stones and ash spawn.

When the battle finished, the guards formed up around me, Teldryn standing right next to me with his sword unsheathed. He put it in front of me like he was using it as a shield for me. The rest of the walk was pretty easy, really. We got back to Tel Mithryn, which was surrounded by a massive protection circle, bigger than any I had seen earlier. Master must have thrown it up to keep anyone from attacking the tower. The Redoran guards weren't able to enter so I bowed to them and said goodnight to them. They concluded their duty and returned to Raven Rock. I gave permission to Drovas and Teldryn to enter the circle. They were able to cross and I directed them to the large tower.

"Ok, guys. Master Neloth is up there. Just go talk to him. Well…Teldryn, I guess you'll just have to write to him." I bowed to them both. "I hope to see you first thing in the morning. If Master is unsure of either of you, tell him I gave you my full assurance that you both belong here."

Teldryn nodded and stuck out his hand for a handshake. I shook his hand but he pulled me in for a hug. He patted me on the back and gestured for Drovas to take the lead. The two of them walked to the tower, while Teldryn looked around for any threats that might somehow breach the circle of protection. I doubt it, though. But he kept his hand resting on his sword's pummel. He'd be a great member of our growing family. Speaking of which…I think I had someone waiting for me in my room.

I pulled my leather door cover open and walked inside. There, lying in the corner of the room was someone roughly younger than me. He looked 12ish? It's hard to tell with boys; they don't go through their growth spurts as quickly as girls did. He wasn't sleeping; he was reading a book. He looked at me and then went back to his book. I nodded to him and I stuck out my hand, waving to him. "Hi, I'm Veselle Tenvanni. I'm guessing you're my new roommate?"

The boy sat up, looking at me. He cleared his throat and pulled out a massive pile of paper. "I've taken this opportunity to draft up our first roommate agreement." He stood up and passed it to me. "Since it is your room, I made it favorable to you. Section One affirms that the 'bed'…" He made air quotes. "is your spot and that I will not interfere with your spot. However, this corner of the room…" He gestured to where he was sitting. "is _my_ spot. Do not enter my spot; do not breathe in my spot. If there was one spot on the planet that I said revolved around my entire being…this is that one spot. So, don't go near it. Section 2 covers all forms of personal contact. There will be none. Do not touch me, I don't want your nasty germs on me. Section 3 covers whistling. There will be none. I, in turn, will not practice throat singing. Section 4…"

…

317 sections later, I was finally allowed to sign the fierfeking paper and lie down on my bed. But, by the time I could do so, Master Neloth was already entering my room, screaming, "It's time to wake up, Apprentices. We have quite a journey on our hands. Nchardak awaits." I sighed as I put a pillow on my head.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_Ok, I tried to make it painfully obvious. The new apprentice is modeled off of Sheldon from Big Bang Theory. Yeah, I thought it would be nice to have someone like him in the story. Anyway, Teldryn will be like that superhero mercenary batman, bloodstain personality. He'll start talking soon. Maybe. I haven't decided yet. But he's a pretty badass spellsword nontheless. Enjoy the future readings.  
_


	15. Egg-citing fight

**Cearbhail**:

___Oh man, oh man. So many things happen that...Ok. I guess I couldn't hide it forever...and now... you will all find out the truth. Well, part of it at least. I'm certain you might learn more if you think about it for a few seconds. Oh well...  
_

___Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
_

* * *

_Dear diary of shadows,_

_Today is the 2nd of Mid Year. It's hard to believe it's been two weeks since we started studying Nchardak. We can't even get past the doorway inside the 'library' in the entranceway. And we keep having to kill reavers every time we go back to study more. But, it's nice to get away from Tel Mithryn every once in a while. And inside Nchardak is one of those black books, except it's like covered with this glass thing that we can't get through or past. Master Neloth went hyper crazy trying to blast the thing open, but it didn't do very much if anything at all. And so, we keep going back, trying to find clues as to how to open the place. We hadn't gotten anywhere and it was starting to bother me. Finally, after a while, Master found some sort of pedestal that he examined. And then he just left with the new kid: Azarien Julareth. Said something about other Dwemer ruins he needed to search and wanted me to stay at the tower with Brelyna and Talvas._

_Speaking of which, that kid is…crazy. Seriously OCD and…I don't even know how to explain it. I've been his roommate for a couple weeks now, and in that time he's only made me hate living in my own room. All these stupid agreements I signed to…I hate it. I hate it; I hate him. It's gotten to the point where I'll not even come back to the room, but go over to Talvas's room, climb into his bed while he's sleeping, and nod off for a couple hours before he'll wake up, pick me up, and toss me out. Maybe if I hadn't erased his memory he'd let me stay, but then I'd feel uncomfortable sleeping with him. And when I get kicked out of his room, I usually go over to the farmhouse and sleep in the guest hut outside in the garden. They usually wake me up first thing in the morning. Speaking of which, dawn is breaking._

_Veselle Tenvanni._

_…_

I closed my journal as I heard Seth closing the screen door to the farmhouse behind him. The guest hut, which I was kind of sleeping in right now, was near the house, but still not really part of it. They built it one day when they found me sleeping with their cows in the feeding stall/hay house. They put in a spare bed in case I ever found myself needing to sleep out here again. And I'd been here maybe every day since Azarien got on my nerves that first time. And with every morning, Seth and Zera would come outside and do their morning chores before joining me for morning drills with Brelyna.

I made sure I was fully clothed before Seth got to the doorway, tapping on it. "Hey, Vess. You awake yet?"

"Yup!" I called out to him. "Just woke up not even two minutes ago."

"Good to hear it." Seth called back to me through the wooden doorway. "Feel like collecting some eggs with me and my sis?"

"Sure." I called out and slid my journal into my back pouch. I clasped my crimson belt to my dark red training robes, making sure it sat perfectly over my hips and that my training robes were unwrinkled. I checked for some hay before I started pulling my hair back into my twintails. I exited through the small doorway leading to the backyard. The sunlight was barely even breaking over the crest of the ocean, and I could see the bright red flare of the Red Mountain in the distance. I could see the dark cloud hovering over Vvardenfell. That large cloud was filled with ash, and I'm guessing it was on its way over here. "We really need to put a weather protection circle over this whole village."

Seth, who was leaning against the guest bedroom's wall, looked up at the approaching cloud as well. "Won't be good for our crops." He sighed. "You know the pigs eat the ash yams we grow…and when they're covered in ash, the pigs get sick." He sighed, looking over at me. "You look nice today."

I smiled to him and scanned him. He was already dressed in his dark red training clothes, but they were wrinkled and torn near the kneecaps and elbows. Slight tears in the sleeves and the collar pretty much told me just how much work he did in them. They were heavily stained with ash as well. "You've only had those for a week. How'd you ruin them already?"

"I do all my farm work in them." He shrugged. "And Destruction's not easy. I remember you told me you read a tome to learn flame magicka…my sis and I didn't get one of those fancy tomes." He said begrudgingly. "It's very hard to create something from nothing when you don't know whatcha doin'."

"Sorry." I hadn't thought it would be for them to learn magicka from scratch. But it was their choice to become wizards like Master Neloth. The whole family was learning, but it wasn't full time like I was. They were farmers first so they did their magicka studies when they had time. I suggested learning Conjuration first so that they could get some helpers with their farming. They rejected the idea, saying that farming with hired (or non-hired) help was the Dres family's thing…not Telvanni. They wanted to be farmers still, but they wanted to be Telvanni Lords as well. I couldn't help but be inspired by them. They did so much work as a family together. I wished I had a family. The closest thing I had was this village: Master Neloth…Talvas… that was about it. Well, the place had really grown since then, I guess. Now we had the silent watchman Teldryn that looked over us. He was pretty cool. Master Neloth actually trained with him, stating that he was the only one among us that could give him a slight challenge. Teldryn was considered a full Telvanni Wizard already, not a Lord like Master was, but a full-fledged Telvanni Master. That's impressive, I think.

Seth looked over at me, sticking a thin piece of hay in his mouth to chew on. It laid there lazily as he looked over the farm. "It's not your problem." He said to me as he fiddled around with the long piece of hay. He pushed off the wall and glanced over at me, smiling. "Ready to collect some eggs?"

I nodded. "Yup."

Seth started walking over to the chicken coop; I was following behind him, looking at the rows of corn that was starting to grow normally. When they moved here, they had to grow their crops all over again. All that corn, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, and lettuce had to be grown from scratch. Not to mention all the hay and wheat they were growing. Their farm wasn't that big, but it was certainly big enough to supply plenty of hay and wheat for the animals. And the rest of the food for the family. The farm had actually grown in size since I left for that quest in the mines two weeks ago. Now they had pigs and more cows. They ordered them in from Cyrodiil. And with all those new additions, the family was even busier making sure everyone was fed.

"It's nice to see the farm is so big. You know, with all the ash spawn attacking us, we thought we'd never be able to keep our farm. But now…look at it." He waved his hands at the growing corn crops. "We can rebuild…make a home." He looked at me, showing me a toothy smile. "And you saved us." I felt my face blushing over as he kissed me on the cheek. He ducked into the chicken coop. I waited for a second, staring at the empty spot where he was standing a few seconds ago. He poked his head out of the chicken coop to look up at me. "You coming?"

I looked around for a second. Zera was busy collecting apples out of my garden, his mother milking cows, and his dad pulling up come carrots that looked ready to eat. I shrugged and ducked into the chicken coop. Four rows of chickens lied in their little hay beddings; one row on the ground, the second a couple feet above them. Seth started collecting eggs on the right side, grabbing the basket on the nail. I reached for the basket on the left wall and started looking down at my first chicken. I hadn't collected eggs before…this was a first. "So…um…"

He glanced at me, smiling at me with his toothy smile. "Yeah, sorry for the kiss. It was a thank you for you know…keeping my family safe. I hadn't gotten the chance to thank you yet."

I shrugged that off. "Oh, I wasn't going to ask. I was going to ask…" I pointed to the chicken. "Any rules?"

"Yeah, don't squeeze the egg too hard when you grab it…and place it gently into the basket. No dropping it, ok?" He said as he demonstrated. He nuzzled the chicken up and grabbed two eggs in one hand very gently. He slid his hand out and slowly placed the eggs into the basket. "See…nice and easy."

I nodded and looked back at my first chicken. Ok…I've handled flames…I've summoned gods…I think I can pick up one egg. I reached down at the chicken. It looked up at me with curiosity, knowing that it had never seen me before. As I got my hand closer, the thing pecked at my hand. I pulled my hand away as fast as I could.

"Don't mind Yippy…she's just nervous." Seth called from his fifth chicken down the first row.

"Ok…" I said to him and looked back at the chicken. When I met her eyes, she brought her wings up like she was going to fight me. "Um…nice Yippy." She leapt from her spot, flying right up to my face. She started kicking me on my forehead. I screamed and tried to bat her away, but whatever I did forced her to flap up to the top of my head. She sat down for a second and I stood there completely still for a second. I felt something warm and then she jumped off my head, landing in her completely empty bedding. I still felt something on top of my head.

Seth started laughing as he looked over at me. "Seems like Yippy left you a present." He snickered as he walked over to me. I reached up to grab whatever it was and I found out when I my hand smashed it to my head. I felt an ooze flow down my hair and I saw the yolk dripping from my fingers as I pulled it away to look at it. Yippy had laid an egg on top of my head.

Yippy and Seth both laughed as my face dripped with egg whites. Well, Yippy was clucking and flapping her wings madly like she was throwing a fit that I crushed her egg. I looked at Seth and glared at him. "You will tell this to no one."

"Oh come on." He said between chuckles. "Don't get egg on your face." He set the basket down.

"Seth…" I warned him as I saw a familiar sparkle in his eyes that meant he was getting started on a joking spree.

"Weren't _egg_-specting that?" He drawled on as he picked up his basket and started collecting more eggs. "An egg on the head is worth two in the bed."

"Seth…" I warned him one more time. If he made one more joke, I would smash an egg on his head and see how he liked it.

He sighed. "Ok, I get it. You're all scrambled from the _egg_-sperience. No reason to give up so over easy. You need to look on the sunny-side up of things." He said as he started on his second round. He looked over at me, smiling. "Oh, come on, Vess. Cheer up. I'm just…"

"Don't say it…" I warned him. I think I knew what he was going to say next, and if he did…I was so chucking at egg at him.

"egging you on…" He finished. And I reached for the chicken next to Yippy, digging my hands for an egg to pull up. The chicken flapped up in confusion as I started digging around. I found an egg and pulled it up. I reeled back and chucked it at Seth. Seth didn't have time to dodge and the egg slammed him right on the nose. He flopped back, slamming into the wall support behind him. He was laughing as he started pulling egg off his face. "Ok then…" He chuckled and started reaching into his basket.

"Seth…" I warned him as I started backing for the exit. "Don't…"

"Why not?" He asked as he pulled out two eggs and ran for me. I screamed as I turned around but I wasn't fast enough. He grabbed me by the back of my robe's collar and pulled it back far enough that he slammed two eggs on the back of my neck. I felt it ooze down my neck onto my back, making me arch backwards. "Afraid to fight me, Vess? You know you'll lose."

I growled as I reached into the basket he was carrying and I grabbed two eggs per hand. I slammed all four on his face. When he reeled back, I grabbed two more and slammed them on top of his head. He was shorter than me by a few inches so it was pretty easy. I crossed my arms as he stood there with yolk dripping down his face. He opened his eyes and glared at me, cracking a smile. "This was fun but…" He said as a defeat. "We need to save some for the family." He started wiping egg off his face and went back to collecting eggs.

While it was fun to smash eggs in Seth's face, I went back to my third chicken. I reached under her gently and started feeling around. I could feel a solid mass so I pulled it out, happy to see that I found an egg. I repeated the process several times with each chicken, happy to see that I had collected a lot before starting on my second row. "Sorry about all that." I said to Seth when I got to the second row. He already finished with his and started helping me by starting on the other side of the row.

He laughed. "No problem, Vess. It's just nice to play with someone other than my sister for once." He looked at me, smiling. "Besides, you're part of our family now, Vess." He went back to picking out eggs. "You may not realize this, but we're very thankful for what you've done for us. You saved us…gave us a new home…helped us rebuild our crops…even let us use your garden. And you're cute."

I looked over at him. He was too busy collecting eggs to look up at me. "You really think so?"

He nodded. "Yup. Maybe it's the savior goggles or somethin' but I find you mighty nice to be around."

I had to admit, I did find it fun to be around him too. I liked messing with Talvas and all but… he was just a little too old to play with me. Seth was actually just a few months younger than me so…we liked to play the same stuff. Like smashing each other with eggs. That was fun. I doubt Talvas would do something like that with me. He'd probably roll his eyes and tell me just how evil I was to him. I don't think he realizes just how much I like to play with him. He just finds me annoying. But Seth was fun to be around. And so was his sister, Zera. She was a little out there, but she was just as funny as Seth was.

I looked past Seth, hoping to see what Zera was up to. I could see her trying to wrestle a pig to the ground. She had long hair that reached pretty far down to the ground, almost touching to her knees. After I saved their family, she started wearing her hair back in twintails like me because she thought it would make her braver too. Seeing her use her twintails to tie the pig up underneath her make me laugh.

Seth looked from me over to his sister. "Oh…Zera! You're all covered in mud."

"Lighten up, brother!" She called from the mud pit where they kept their pigs. "I'm just playing with Verver."

Seth looked back at me, rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry about all this." He sighed. "Looks like she'll need a bath before we can go to training."

I shrugged. "Well…since Brelyna is out at Raven Rock… Talvas is our instructor for today. I'm sure he won't mind waking up in a couple hours. I know he hates it when I wake him up early."

Seth nodded. "Ok." He nudged me to follow him outside the coop. "Help me carry these eggs inside?" I nodded and followed behind him. I looked down at the basket filled with ten or so eggs. They would have enough to last them for a couple days…if they didn't share them with the rest of Tel Mithryn, which they did. We pretty much shared everything in Tel Mithryn nowadays. Even my bedroom wasn't safe. And since Master was always busy looking for whatever he was looking for…he never got a chance to make Azarien's room. Which meant, I still had to share a room with him. And while they hadn't been here in almost a week…I was still getting random Illusions of Azarien popping up in my room to remind me of every condition of which I had to uphold…even when he wasn't around. That's why I try to stay out of my room.

"Thanks for letting me sleep in your backyard." I said to Seth. He shrugged as we walked up to the back porch. His father was sitting in his rocking chair, sharpening a knife on his leather strip. He nodded a welcome to me as I walked up the stairs. I bowed to him. "Morning, sir."

"Why are the two of you covered in eggs?" He asked as he shook his head in amusement.

I looked at Seth and gave him a strong set of evil eyes, willing him to not say anything. "Yippy laid an egg on Vess's head and I laughed at her when she accidentally smashed it. She threw an egg at me, and that sort of led to an _egg_-citing fight." He glanced at me, sticking his tongue out.

I pulled out and egg and threw it at him, scoring him right on the cheek. "Enough of those egg puns."

Mr. Vedes sighed as he looked over at me. He smiled a bit as he leaned back in his chair. "Thank you for helping my son with the morning eggs, Veselle."

I bowed to him. "Not at all, sir. You let me sleep in the backyard so…it's no problem."

"If you need to take a shower, feel free to use ours." He implied.

I shook my head. "I'll use the one inside the bathhouse." Oh yeah, this entire time I hadn't mentioned the bathhouse that had been built. It had a boys' side, and a girls' side. It was an Altmeri design but it was nice. Two giant heated pools to relax in with shower stalls inside the building to rinsing and cleaning with. We were supposed to use the showers to clean ourselves before going to the massive bathing pools to relax. I would just go and clean up in there.

"I'll join you." Zera exclaimed as she jogged up to me. She was covered head-to-toe in mud, her twintails completely undone and her hair was sticking up every direction you could imagine. The only things that weren't drenched in mud were her bright pink eyes that glanced up at me.

Mr. Vedes sighed as he looked down at her. "Zeratah!" He started using his disciplining voice. "What have I told you about wrestling with the pigs?"

She looked up at him. "To change out of my training robes?"

He nodded. "Yes. You tore your last ones and you're only supposed to wear them while working with magicka."

She sighed. "But I love wearing my robes!" She hugged her mud-laden body. "I feel like Vessy when I wear them."

He sighed, looking at me. "She takes good care of her robes."

I glanced down at my robes. They looked brand new because every time I ruined them, I had Kyuu fix them for me with his heal beam. If only he knew the truth that I usually ended up incinerating them with each fire-based attack that I did…at least until I learned how to control my fire magicka. Right now I was working with Frost, which was difficult for me. I was very emotional, and trying to summon magicka with a cold emotionless aura was difficult. Now I had to worry about freezing my robes, which happened a couple times already. Once time I got frozen in my own robes and I wasn't able to move for a few minutes. Kyuu had to use his fire magicka to make the robes defrost before they shattered. That happened once too.

I looked over at Zera and patted her on her head. "Don't worry, we'll get you cleaned up. Go meet me in the bathhouse."

"Yay!" She screamed and ran off for the bathhouse.

I looked back at Mr. Vedes and handed him the basket of eggs. "Thank you for your hospitality, sir."

He took the basket of eggs from me and smiled. "You're always welcome here, Veselle." He looked over at Seth and nodded to him, handing him the basket. "Draseth, take these inside and help your mother. Then go get washed up and ready for breakfast."

Seth nodded, taking the eggs from his father. "Yes, dad." He looked back at me, smiling. "See you for practice, Vess?"

"Yup." I said as I turned around. I felt sticky from the eggs rolling down my back and my hair . I couldn't wait to get in the bath. I looked around the town as I walked over to the bathhouse. Teldryn was walking over to the farm for breakfast and he looked over at me through his masked face. I never saw him without it. I wondered what he looked like; let alone what he sounded like. He never talked either. I think he talks to Master Neloth, but that was the only time I think he talks. He never says anything to me, but he does help me train. He lets me shoot fire magicka at him, and he works on blocking it.

"_Apprentice_…" I heard a hiss behind me. I stopped in my tracks and turned around. I didn't see anyone behind me, but I felt someone watching me. "_Come to me, Apprentice._" I felt a tug on my chin and I felt my feet beginning to walk. I started walking for the protection circle nearing the edge of the town. There was someone standing on the very edge of the town, dressed in a black cloak that covered their form. I don't think I could control my feet as they carried me over to the edge of the circle. The black-cloaked figure waited for me at the edge. My feet stopped just a foot away from the circle's edge, where the mysterious person waited for me. They stood just an inch away, their face hidden behind a massive hood that obscured their face from me. I could see their red eyes though. It looked like a Dunmer, but since we're on a Dunmer island, it wouldn't surprise me. "_You were the one I've been looking for…._" The serpentine voice called from behind the hood. The shadow person started walking around the edge of the circle, glancing at me the whole time they shifted back and forth while they paced right outside the barrier. "_You took my test subjects…_" It hissed.

That's when it clicked. This had to be the Telvanni Lord that paid the reavers to steal the Vedes family. "So…you're Ildari then?"

She hissed at the mentioning of her name. "_One does not just say my name so willy-nilly_." She hissed to me. "_You have those…who belong to me. Bring me the boy and the girl…and I shall spare you your life._" She raised her hand and I started getting pulled off my feet. It felt like someone had lifted me up by the collar of my robes and was holding me ten feet up in the air.

"You better just kill me then!" I screamed to her. "I'm not bringing you anyone."

"_You will bring them. I command it._" Her voice slithered into my head and it rattled around in there. "_The heart stones speak through you…as they do me. I am in your head…and you'll join me soon enough…daughter…_" Daughter? But my mom…I didn't remember ever meeting her. Ildari couldn't be my mother…could she? I didn't get a chance to ask her because she had extended her hand. I was thrown forward with such speed and force that I found myself slamming into Talvas's room's wall within a few seconds of being launched. I was stuck there for a second before all pressure released off me. By the time I was able to stand up and look at the protection circle surrounding the town…she wasn't in her spot anymore. Ildari? Mother? That couldn't be right. Ildari was Brelyna's mother…and…now I'm just confused.

Talvas burst through his door, carrying a staff with him. He looked around frantically before looking down at me, rolling his eyes. "Veselle? Can't you wait at _least_ until 7 a.m. to wake me up?"

I looked up at him, my eyes tearing up and my voice cracked in fear. "Talvas? I just met Ildari."

He looked at me and then went back into fighter mode. He ran out of his room, looking around. "Where is she?"

"Gone…" My cracked voice reported. "She wants me to bring her the Vedes children. Or else she'll kill me."

He looked at me, his eyes wide. "We won't let her."

"She was able to pick me up and toss me halfway across Tel Mithryn on the other side of a protection circle…I don't think I can beat her." My voice was cracking up even more and my hands were shaking uncontrollably. I hadn't even felt her presence, or her magicka. But the way she was able to pick me up and throw me without any effort told me she could kill me whenever she wanted. And she was able to make me walk to her. That was scary. What could I possibly do to protect myself?

Talvas looked down at me. He could see how scared I was. He walked up to me, wrapping me in his arms and hugged me close to him. "We'll keep you safe…we'll keep you all safe." He whispered to me, before pulling me inside his room. He closed the door behind us and gestured me to take a seat on his bed. I was a little reluctant because it seemed like a bad opening to what could happen next, but I sat down anyway. Talvas didn't take another look at me though. He locked the door behind him and set up a protection ward around his room. He sat down at his desk and grabbed his crystal ball. He waved his hand over the ball, saying, "Master Neloth…" like he was in a trance.

The ball sat there quietly for a few seconds until Master Neloth's face appeared on the screen. "Yes, Talvas…what is it? This had better be important, we're close to finding something out, of that I am quite sure."

"Master, something has happened." Talvas said to him. "Master Ildari attacked Veselle."

"_What_?" He screamed. "Is she ok? She better not be dead. I already lost one person this month; I don't think I can stand losing another to that witch."

"She's fine, Master." Talvas looked back at me, scanning me, and then looking at the ball. "Covered in eggs, a little shaken up, and crying, but she's fine."

"Sounds normal then." Master Neloth sounded more controlled. "But this is serious. Put Veselle on." Talvas waived for me to join him, so I stood up and walked over to Talvas, sitting on his chair when he stood up to offer it to me. Master Neloth's face showed how worried he was. "What happened, Apprentice? Tell me exactly what happened."

And I did just that. I told him about the whispering I heard and how my feet walked me over to the protection circle. I told him about how she wanted the children we saved and how she lifted me up off the ground; about what she said about the heart stones; and how she tossed me into Talvas's room with no trouble. I left out when she called me her daughter because I didn't know what he'd say to that.

When I finished, Master sighed. "I am returning home immediately. Talvas…" Talvas ran up behind me, putting his head on my shoulder. "I want you to secure everyone in the tower. Make certain to use the Interference circle around the tower. Make certain Teldryn is aware of the situation."

Talvas nodded. "Yes, sir."

"I will be back within a couple hours. I still have to finish up here or Ildari will be one of many concerns." Master nodded to us before his image blinked away.

I looked up at Talvas, my tears still falling from my eyes. My body shook with fear that I had never felt before. "Talvas…"

He hugged me, rubbing the back of my head as he rocked me back and forth. "It's ok, Veselle. You're safe."

I shook my head. "It's not that…" I looked up at him. "She called me her daughter."

His surprised look told me everything I needed to know…he already knew. And that raised so many more questions I had.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_Did anyone expect that? I had it planned for a while now. And that's not it. Maybe her father...isn't really her father, but someone put in charge of keeping her safe? I'm not sure yet, but that would make her...someone else's daughter. And who might that be? Don't know...maybe someone who specifically said they 'weren't'? Not saying it's factual yet, but i might let it be. Stay tuned. things are going to heat up now. And this part of the arc isn't over just yet.  
_


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